Explore Jakarta

The National Monument, known as Monas, is a 132-metre obelisk in the middle of Merdeka Square, built from 1961 under President Sukarno to commemorate Indonesia's struggle for independence. It is topped by a flame covered in gold leaf; the base holds a museum of national history dioramas, and a lift runs to an observation deck below the flame.

The National Museum of Indonesia stands on the west side of Merdeka Square and holds about 141,000 objects of archaeology, ethnography, ceramics, coins and history from across the archipelago. Its nickname, Museum Gajah, comes from the bronze elephant in the forecourt, given by King Chulalongkorn of Siam in 1871. It reopened in 2024 after a fire in 2023.

The National Gallery of Indonesia is the state art museum on the east side of Merdeka Square in central Jakarta. Its main hall is an 1817 Dutch colonial residence that later served as a girls' dormitory of a school, and since 1999 the complex has shown modern and contemporary Indonesian art in a permanent collection and changing exhibitions.

Istiqlal Mosque is Indonesia's national mosque, named after the Arabic word for independence. Designed by the architect Friedrich Silaban, it was built from 1961 and opened in 1978 beside Merdeka Square, across the road from Jakarta Cathedral. A large white dome covers the main prayer hall, which holds up to 200,000 worshippers with its courtyards.

Jakarta Cathedral, officially the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Jakarta. The neo-Gothic church, designed by the Jesuit Antonius Dijkmans and completed by M. J. Hulswit, was consecrated in 1901. Two openwork iron spires rise above its grey stone front, facing Istiqlal Mosque across the road.

The Formulation of Proclamation Text Museum occupies an Art Deco villa of 1920 on Jalan Imam Bonjol in Menteng, Central Jakarta. It was the residence of Japanese Rear Admiral Tadashi Maeda, and here on the night of 16 to 17 August 1945 Sukarno and Hatta drafted Indonesia's proclamation of independence. Its rooms recreate that night and show objects of the men present.

Kim Tek Ie, also called Vihara Dharma Bhakti, is a Chinese temple in the Glodok Chinatown of West Jakarta and the oldest in the city. It was founded in 1650 as Kwan Im Teng, a shrine to the goddess Guanyin, burned in 1740 and rebuilt in 1755. Its red halls with curved roof ridges remain a working place of worship filled with incense and candles.

The Bank Indonesia Museum is housed in the former head office of De Javasche Bank, the central bank of the Dutch East Indies, in Kota Tua. Run by Bank Indonesia and opened in stages from 2006 to 2009, it explains the history of the central bank and its policies, with a numismatic room, a gold reserve display and multimedia exhibits.

The Jakarta History Museum occupies the former Stadhuis, the city hall of Dutch Batavia, completed in 1710 on the south side of Fatahillah Square in Kota Tua. Rooms on its three floors trace the city's past from prehistoric finds and the kingdoms of Tarumanagara and Pajajaran to the colonial era, with antique furniture, ceramics and stone inscriptions.

The Wayang Museum on the west side of Fatahillah Square in Kota Tua stands on the site of a Dutch church founded in 1640; the present front dates from a rebuilding in 1912. Opened as a museum in 1975, it shows wayang kulit shadow puppets, wooden wayang golek, masks, gamelan instruments and puppets from other countries.

The Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics occupies a neoclassical building on the east side of Fatahillah Square, built from 1866 to 1870 as the Raad van Justitie, the Dutch court of justice in Batavia. Since 1990 it has combined an art gallery and a ceramics museum, showing Indonesian paintings, sketches and carved totems alongside ceramics from Indonesia and abroad.

Dunia Fantasi, known as Dufan, is the amusement park inside the Ancol Dreamland resort on the waterfront of North Jakarta. It opened on 29 August 1985 on reclaimed land by Jakarta Bay and has more than 40 rides and attractions in themed areas, among them the Halilintar roller coaster, the Hysteria drop tower and the Istana Boneka boat ride.

The Maritime Museum occupies former spice warehouses of the Dutch East India Company, built from 1718 beside the old harbour of Sunda Kelapa in North Jakarta. Its long whitewashed halls show traditional boats and models from across Indonesia, old navigation instruments and objects from the colonial era. Part of the complex was damaged by a fire in 2018.

Sunda Kelapa is the old port of Jakarta at the mouth of the Ciliwung River in North Jakarta, once the main harbour of the Sunda Kingdom and the origin of the city. Today it is a working port for pinisi, the wooden two-masted sailing ships that carry freight between the islands, moored in long rows along the quay.