Aceh Museum and the Rumoh Aceh

About this place

One of the oldest museums in Indonesia, which began as a traditional Acehnese house raised on stilts, shown as the Aceh pavilion at a colonial exhibition in Semarang in 1914, then moved to Banda Aceh to become the museum's core. That house, the Rumoh Aceh, is still the loveliest thing here, with its carved timber and lofty roof. You step inside the timber house to see how Acehnese families lived: the bedrooms, reception room, kitchen and traditional furniture. The modern building next door holds galleries on the Aceh sultanate's history, Islamic manuscripts and old Qurans, gold coins, traditional weapons such as the rencong, and a section on Aceh's ties with the Ottoman Empire. In the garden hangs a huge bell said to be a gift from an old Chinese fleet. Entry is about five thousand rupiah per adult and three thousand per child. It opens every day except Friday in two sessions: nine to twelve, and half past one to quarter past four. An hour is enough; it is close to the Baiturrahman Mosque and the sultans' tombs, so make it a stop on a city-centre walk.