Jakarta Cultural Festival, Cultural centre and museum in Palmerah, Jakarta, Indonesia

Bentara Budaya Jakarta is a cultural institution on Jalan Palmerah Selatan 17 in Central Jakarta, made up of a museum and an art gallery. Its building is modelled on a traditional teakwood house from Kudus, designed by architect Romo Mangunwijaya and combining Indonesian, Hindu and Chinese elements. It holds 573 paintings, 625 antique Chinese ceramics, about 400 sculptures and some 120 wayang golek figures.

Bentara Budaya Jakarta was founded on 26 September 1982 by Jakob Oetama, founder of Kompas Gramedia, to share his art collection. The museum building opened on 26 June 1986, designed by architect Romo Mangunwijaya after a traditional teakwood house from Kudus. Its first exhibition, in 1985, showed ceramics by Studio Titik Temu Tembikar from Liosadang, Purwakarta, promoted by artist Adi Munardi.

The building is modelled on a traditional teakwood house from Kudus, designed by architect Romo Mangunwijaya, combining Javanese, Hindu and Chinese elements. The collection includes 120 wayang golek figures made by Asep Sunarya, depicting punakawan, Pandawa and Kurawa characters.

The center sits at Jalan Palmerah Selatan 17 in Central Jakarta, near the Palmerah area. It opens Monday to Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM and is closed on weekends and public holidays, except when special exhibitions are held. Entry is free.

The Kudus-style teakwood building was designed by architect Romo Mangunwijaya, blending Javanese, Hindu and Chinese elements. Its 573 paintings include works by Affandi and S. Sudjojono, alongside 625 Chinese ceramics from the Yuan to Ching dynasties.