Aceh Tsunami Museum, History museum in Baiturrahman, Indonesia
The Aceh Tsunami Museum is a history museum in Baiturrahman, Indonesia, that commemorates the 2004 disaster and is housed in a four-story building with geometric reliefs. A narrow corridor between two water walls gives visitors a sense of the conditions during a tsunami.
The museum was built in 2008 with donor funds coordinated by BRR, following an international design competition in 2007 won by Bandung architect Ridwan Kamil. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated it in 2009, and it opened to the public in 2011.
The building's curved walls are covered in geometric reliefs, and images of Saman dancers on the walls refer to a dance of the Gayo and Acehnese people, linked in the source to strength, discipline and religious faith. The design draws on Islamic values, local culture and the abstraction of a tsunami. The prayer well is a tall circular wall whose inner face lists the names of the 2004 victims.
The museum is open daily except Friday, with sessions from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 16:00 WIB. Plan around the Friday closure and the midday break, when the exhibition halls shut between the two sessions.
The building serves a double function as an educational center and emergency shelter in case a similar event should happen again. A refuge hill has been built on the roof to offer protection in the event of another tidal wave.
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