Audio guide and tours · English No official audio guide
The National Museum of Indonesia, known in Jakarta as Museum Gajah after the bronze elephant in its front garden, reopened on 15 October 2024 after the 2023 fire, and since December 2025 it has shown the Java Man fossil. Its ticket page lists no audio guide; volunteers give free tours in English, Japanese and Korean on set days. If you don't read Indonesian, here is what helps.
Independent guide by the makers of Tales of Museums. Not affiliated with the National Museum of Indonesia.
Phone photos are fine without flash. Professional cameras, meaning DSLR, mirrorless, action and compact cameras and the like, are not permitted, nor are tripods or drones; for professional cameras at particular events, the museum asks you to contact its public relations team. museum leaflet, September 2026: rules · Kompas (press): museum camera rules, July 2022
Bags and lockers
The museum's rules ask you to leave your bag in a locker. The locker room is on basement level B1, beside the entrances from the front garden and from B1, where Hall Majapahit is. museum leaflet, September 2026: rules and museum map
Wi-Fi
Bring mobile data: visitor Wi-Fi is not among the services the museum lists. Its map shows lockers, a canteen, a mosque, a nursery room, first aid, a children's area and an information desk. museum leaflet, September 2026: museum map
Checked on 24 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official National Museum website before you go.
Foreign visitors IDR 150,000; foreigners with a KITAS IDR 50,000. Indonesian adults IDR 50,000, school pupils IDR 30,000, children up to 3 free; groups of 50 or more pay IDR 40,000 per adult and IDR 24,000 per pupil. ImersifA costs IDR 35,000 on top of admission. Buy at the ticket counter or online through the booking link on the museum's ticket page. museum site: tickets and opening hours · museum site: ARAMSA free Wednesday evenings
Come on the second Wednesday of the month after 4 pm for free entry, and register at the ticket counter: online and e-kiosk tickets do not count.
Leave the DSLR, mirrorless, action or compact camera and the tripod at your hotel; phone photos without flash are fine.
Your bag goes in the locker room on basement level B1, so keep your phone, headphones and anything you need in a pocket.
For a free tour in English, be there for 10 am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday, or 1.30 pm on Thursday.
Living in Indonesia on a KITAS? Bring it: you pay IDR 50,000 instead of the IDR 150,000 foreign-visitor price.
From Friday to Sunday the museum stays open until 8 pm.
Checked on 24 October 2026 from the sources linked above. Museums change their guides and rules; confirm on the official National Museum website before you go.
Highlights and stories
Swipe for the works and stories worth knowing before you go.
Java Man in the Early History gallery
The Dutch army doctor Eugène Dubois found the Homo erectus fossil known as Java Man at Trinil, on the Bengawan Solo river in East Java, in 1891-1892. After more than a century in Leiden it came home on 17 December 2025, part of the return of some 28,000 Dubois fossils, and it has its own room at the centre of Early History, a permanent gallery open since 18 December 2025 at no extra charge.
The statue of Prajnaparamita is often called the Mona Lisa of Java for its beauty. The museum's head and curator says the patterns carved on it inspired Javanese batik makers to create the Jalaprang motif. Find it on the ground floor, marked C on the museum map.
Museum Gajah: King Chulalongkorn's bronze elephant
Jakartans call the museum Gedung Gajah or Museum Gajah, the Elephant House, after the bronze elephant in its front garden, a gift from King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) of Thailand, who visited in 1871. The building on what was then Koningsplein West opened to the public in 1868.
The museum began with the Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, a society for arts and sciences founded in Batavia on 24 April 1778. One of its founders, J.C.M. Radermacher, gave a house on Kalibesar and his own collection of objects and books. The government took over the museum in 1962, and in 1979 it became the National Museum.
The entrance now leads through Hall Majapahit, on basement level B1, with video mapping projected in the hall. Since 2026 Hall Majapahit, the mosque, the air-conditioned canteen, the inner courtyard and the front gardens of Buildings A and B have been open without a ticket.
The museum holds about 190,000 objects in seven collections: prehistory, classical Hindu-Buddhist archaeology, numismatics and heraldry, ceramics, ethnography, geography and history. Upstairs, galleries include Misykat: Light of Indonesian Islamic Civilisation and Numismatics on the 2nd Floor (one level up) and Fearless Defiance on the 3rd Floor (two levels up).
Tales of Museums reads the label in front of you aloud in your language, for any label you can photograph. Bags go in the lockers, so keep your phone and headphones in your pocket, and bring mobile data.
Point at the label. Hold your iPhone steady and tap. You can also choose a photo you already took.
Listen in your language. The label is translated and read aloud in a natural voice, in any of twelve languages, and each sentence lights up as it is read.
Learn more. Key terms explained in plain words, and a few interesting facts with their sources.
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Questions visitors ask
Is there a National Museum of Indonesia audio guide in my language?
The National Museum's ticket page lists no audio guide. For commentary, join a free volunteer tour by the Indonesian Heritage Society: in English at 10 am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and at 1.30 pm on Thursday, in Japanese on the first Saturday and in Korean on the third Saturday of the month, and in French on request. The museum's own guides lead booked tours in Indonesian and English. museum site: tickets and opening hours · museum site: guiding and education services · Indonesian Heritage Society: museum tours
How much are National Museum of Indonesia tickets for foreigners?
Foreign visitors pay IDR 150,000, and foreigners holding a KITAS stay permit pay IDR 50,000. Indonesian adults pay IDR 50,000 and school pupils IDR 30,000, and children up to 3 enter free. The 2026 price notice also lists free entry for visitors over 60, for people with disabilities and one companion, and for holders of Indonesia's KIP and KIP Kuliah student cards. museum site: tickets and opening hours · museum site: Welcoming 2026 (price notice)
When is the National Museum of Indonesia open?
Since 1 April 2026 the National Museum has opened from 8 am to 6 pm Tuesday to Thursday and from 8 am to 8 pm Friday to Sunday. It is closed every Monday and on national public holidays. museum site: tickets and opening hours
Is there a free day at the National Museum?
Yes. On the second Wednesday of every month the National Museum's ARAMSA evening gives everyone free regular admission from 4 pm to 8 pm, with no quota. Register on the spot by scanning the QR code at the ticket counter, then show it at the counter for a wristband; online and e-kiosk purchases do not count. ImersifA, the Getting to Know the Face of Nusantara exhibit and the children's area are not included. museum site: ARAMSA free Wednesday evenings · museum site: tickets and opening hours
Can I take photos in the National Museum of Indonesia?
Yes, with your phone and without flash. The National Museum's rules do not permit professional cameras, which they define as DSLR, mirrorless, action and compact cameras and the like, or tripods and drones. Do not lean your phone or anything else on an object or its base while you take a picture. museum leaflet, September 2026: rules · Kompas (press): museum camera rules, July 2022
Can I bring a bag into the National Museum?
The National Museum's rules ask you to leave your bag in the locker room on basement level B1, beside the entrances. Food and drink stay out of the exhibition rooms, and pets, weapons and drones are not allowed. museum leaflet, September 2026: rules and museum map
What is ImersifA, and is it included in the ticket?
ImersifA is the National Museum's immersive room: video is projected all the way round the walls and onto the floor, with sound, taking you through Indonesian history and culture. It costs IDR 35,000 per person on top of a museum admission ticket, which you must buy as well. museum site: tickets and opening hours · museum site: How to buy ImersifA tickets
Is the National Museum open again after the 2023 fire?
Yes. The fire on 16 September 2023 hit 6 rooms in Building A, and the museum reopened to the public on 15 October 2024 with new displays and the ImersifA room. The museum plans to renovate the six rooms that burned, and since 2026 its free areas without a ticket include Hall Majapahit, the mosque, the air-conditioned canteen and the front gardens. museum site: press release, 17 September 2023 · museum site: reopening, 11 October 2024 · museum site: Welcoming 2026
How do I get to the National Museum of Indonesia by public transport?
The National Museum is at Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat 12 in Central Jakarta. Take TransJakarta to the Monas stop and walk about 7 minutes. From MRT Bundaran HI station, change to TransJakarta route 1 or 1P to Monas; from Juanda KRL station, take TransJakarta route 2 or 14A to Monas. museum leaflet, September 2026: address · detik.com (press): routes to the museum, October 2024
Is the National Museum good for wheelchair users and families?
Tales of Museums is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the National Museum of Indonesia. Translations, narration and the extra facts use AI and can contain mistakes, so for anything important, check the museum's official information and the linked sources. Please follow the museum's photography rules.