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Published on December 5, 2014

The Jakarta History Museum that is housed in the former Municipal Hall or Stadhuis in the Old Batavia – Kota Tua at Fatahillah Square has been closed for the past month due to massive restoration works. The Museum is due to open only in January 2015.

Although the Museum is temporary closed, all other activities in Old Batavia continue to be held every week in the Square fronting the Museum, as in  other surrounding Museums like the Wayang Museum,  The Fine Arts and Ceramics Museum,Bank Mandiri Museum and Bank Indonesia Museum.  

Architect in charge of the Conservation and Renovation works of the Jakarta Museum, – otherwise also known as the Fatahillah Museum,  –  Anneke Prasyanti told the the daily Pos Kota,that restoration so far has reached around 60 percent, but she is confident to be able to finish the all renovation by January next month.  The extended  time frame was needed because of additional damages  found in its construction that required immediate restoration.

Annek Prasyanti further explained that conservation work on the municipal Hall and office of the former  colonial  Dutch Governor General is divided into Zones A-B-C-D-E. Worse damages were suffered in zones A-B and E, where 16 wooden pillars with a length of 7 meters each and a width of 25 cm were damaged, badly eaten up by termites. Additionally, paintwork of   3,500 suquare meters area of the walls have peeled off, so these needed repainting.  

In 2012,  restoration work had been started on the roof,  which was followed by the restoration of the timber floors,  window frames and windowsills,  while for this year corrosion of its  paintwork and plasterworks are also being cleaned.   

The fully restored Fatahillah Jakarta History Museum, that has taken a budget of  IDRp 18.3 billion,  is expected to open its doors again in January 2015 for the public to admire its full beauty.