A fire damaged part of the historical collection at the Indonesian National Museum in Jakarta on Saturday evening. The fire broke out after a short circuit in one of the buildings at the rear where renovations were taking place. According to local media, the fire spread to the museum section; to some showrooms where objects were also stored. Some of the buildings have collapsed. A temporary residence for the construction workers also burned down. There were no casualties.
It is still unclear how extensive the damage is to the historical collection. The fire continued to rage for three hours. According to local media, four buildings where archaeological, anthropological and other historical objects were stored were destroyed by the fire. The Indonesian newspaper Compass speaks of the unknown fate of thousands of objects.
Nadiem Makarim, Indonesia’s Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology was on site last night. “Rescuing as many historical objects as possible from the affected depots is now my main priority,” the minister said in a statement. He has set up an inspection team to investigate the damage to the collection. It was not yet known on Sunday morning when the inspection team could get started. The museum building had not yet been secured by the fire brigade.
Colonial art
Last July, Dutch State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Culture and Media, D66) announced that the Netherlands will return approximately 470 objects to Indonesia, some of which will be given to the National Museum in Jakarta. The outgoing State Secretary could not confirm to NOS last night whether the historical objects would still return to the National Museum. However, there is no question of the refund being revised. “The Indonesian government decides where they are displayed,” she said.
Deputy head of the museum Ahmad Mahendra said this morning in return for Compass that part of the damaged collection are replicas and that the objects already repatriated from the Netherlands were not affected by the fire. They would have been elsewhere.