Have you ever heard about Wayang?
Wayang or Indonesian Puppet is one of the most traditional culture that we have in many tribe of Indonesia, especially from Java island.
This time, CANTING will take you to the place that we could discover the uniqueness of wayang. Don't worry, we don't have to find it too far, it's in central Jakarta :) It's Museum Wayang. Museum Wayang is one of a culture museum in Jakarta, and we can find it in the "Kota Tua" which have a lots of museum and historical site around the area.
First of all, we have to pay the admission in front of the entrance. It's super cheap though, Since we’re students, we only have to pay for IDR 3000,-. After entering the museum, we will be welcomed by a couple giant - sized wayang golek, which is super rare and unique, and after that, we could see a lots of collection and types of wayang in an glass display cabinet. And now, we will tell you what we saw inside!
The content of the first cabinet that we saw is Wayang Kulit. Wayang kulit is a puppet which made from a skin of carabao, or cow. The makers will drying the skin and shape it to a puppet, based on its character. and after that, they stick several parts to a stick which made also from carabao’s horn, so the wayang will be able to moved by the player or they usually called “Dalang”. Wayang kulit is a traditional heritage from central Java, and we could find it easily in Surakarta and Jogjakarta. There’s a lot of uniqueness of this wayang kulit. First, the show time. The original wayang kulit show time usually takes a whole night which is about 4 – 6 hours. And, the way to show it is also unique. The wayang will be placed behind the white screen and there will be a traditional light which called “Blencong” on the right and left side on the screen and there’s a music to accompany the story. The music is also traditional, it’s called gamelan and we will tell you about it on our next post. How to watch it is also unique. The audience will watch the show from two sides. First, they who watch from the front of the screen, they will only see the shadow from the wayang which is made from the light effect. And they who watch it behind the white screen. They will see the actual wayang along with the “dalang” playing the wayang backs you off.
After the Wayang Kulit Cabinet, we’re moving on to the Wayang Golek collection. Wayang golek is originally made from wood and carved based on its character. The most popular wayang golek comes from West Java, or Sunda. Different from wayang kulit, wayang golek mostly showed in the afternoon. It’s showed on the top of block, so it forms like a stage, and with the player position in the back and under the stage. And we will be able to watch it from the front only.
Besides that, There are lot of another types of wayang in Indonesia and we could find almost everything in museum wayang. Museum wayang also displayed the modern form of wayang, such as Unyil and Friends (Unyil was a hand – puppet boy character in a show named “Si Unyil” which tell the daily activity of unyil and friends as Indonesian children with authentic betawi culture. It was the most popular children show on TV in 1990’s). Not only from Indonesia, Museum Wayang also displayed wayang from another country, such as from China, India, Dutch, Thailand, US, Russia and many more.
Anyway, there’s also a wayang show every Sunday, with a scheduled show time on the museum. But since we went to the museum at Thursday, we don’t have a chance yet to watch it. We hope we could be here for hanging out on the next weekend to watch the wayang show J This museum have a lots of interesting thing, not only about wayang, but also the culture and message that they want to convey by using the wayang as the media. All you have to do is just visit this museum and feel the excitement!
Enjoy Jakarta!
Address:
Jl. Pintu Besar Utara No.27, Jakarta Barat 1110
Tel: (021) 6929560
E-mail : museum.wayang@yahoo.com
Admission Price:
Adults : IDR 5000,-
Students : IDR 3000,-
Children : IDR 2000,-
Operational Hours:
Tuesday – Sunday : 9.00 – 15.00
Monday & Public Holiday : Closed
How To Get There!
By Trans Jakarta from the nearest stop from your place to Harmoni Central Station. From harmoni, choose the Kota line, and get off in the last stop at Kota station. The museum is in the “Kota Tua” area, 5 minute by walk from the bus stop.
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