Kemendikbudristek Plans To Close National Museums For Up To A Year

Secretary of the Directorate General of Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture Fitra Arda, at a public discussion, at the Toeti Heraty Museum, Menteng, Central Jakarta, Monday (25/9/2023) (ANTARA/Pamela Sakina)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) said that the Indonesian National Museum (MNI) or the Gajah Museum plans to be closed for the next year after the fire on September 16.

"We will temporarily close the museum and maybe even a year, we will make (improvements) right until he is okay, then we will open it," explained the Secretary of the Directorate General of Culture at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Fitra Arda, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, September 25.

After the museum stated that it would temporarily close the museum for a predetermined time, Fitra estimated that the entire process from renovations to restoration of museum collections would be carried out for the next year.

However, Fitra said various MNI services could still be used, virtually or using other museum units.

"But it doesn't reduce services, services can still be used," he said.

Until now, Fitra said the Ministry of Education and Culture was working with the police, to experts, to follow up on the impact of the fire incident.

His party will conduct archaeological technical studies, building audits, museum security and security studies, collection studies, human resources, and risk management. In addition, the handling of affected collections and overall museum arrangement is also carried out.

The MNI fire, which is located on Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Gambir, Central Jakarta, is thought to have originated from an electrical short circuit that occurred in the museum renovation project.

Previously, Head of the Fire and Rescue Agency (Kasudin Gulkarmat) Asril Rizal said the electrical short circuit triggered the National Museum fire, precisely in Block A Building which is the exhibition room for the museum collection. It is known that the fire came from behind Building A of the National Museum so that the fire did not start from inside the building, but the impact caused several rooms in the back of Building A to be hit by the burning fire.