Indonesian National Museum
This is the most representative site where you may find almost anything related to historical, pre-historical, archaeological and ethnographic aspects of Indonesia. The museum houses extinct collection of artifacts and relics from the stone-age period. Including the world largest collections of Southeast Asian ceramics originated from the Han, Tang and Ming Dynasties.

Located on the west side of Merdeka Square in Central Jakarta, the museum also filled with amazing Javanese works of art such as statuary and sculpture salvaged from sites of Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic edifices. The museum is popularly known as Gedung Gajah or "Elephant Building" because of the stone elephant gifted by King Chulalongkorn of Thailand in 1871, placed on the front lawn of the building. Established in 1778 by U.M.C. Rademacher under the auspices of the Batavia Association of Arts and Sciences and was opened in 1868.

Analogize the museum over a big storage containing plenty of cultural instruments, ancient household utensils, also arts and crafts. And it will offer you an introduction to the unique cultures of the various ethnic groups in Indonesia.

The National Monument (Monas)
This special monument is the most famous landmark in Jakarta. With the height of 137-meter, it has a flaring top coated with 35 kilogram of gold. It represents the people's determination to achieve freedom. Probably that's why this monument is located on the center of Merdeka Square (merdeka means freedom).

The monument was built during the Sukarno nationalism. It houses a historical museum and meditation hall. An elevator carries visitors to the top, offering a bird's eye view across the city to the sea. While on the base of monument, you can see series of dioramas telling pieces of Indonesia's history.

Perintis Kemerdekaan Building and The Soerkarno-Hatta Monument On August 17th 1945, Soekarno and Hatta -the Indonesia's first President and Vice President-- together proclaimed the Indonesia's independence on behalf of the nation's people. This historical moment took place on Jalan Proklamasi 56, known as Soekarno's former residence.

In order to commemorate this historical moment, the government built a monument named after them, stands close to the Perintis Kemerdekaan Building.

Lubang Buaya Heroes Monument
Beyond the beautiful Indonesia, the country holds a terrible dark side of history on September 30th, 1965. It was a communist coup d'etat, when six army generals and one army officers were executed by communist militia squads.

In the southeast of Jakarta about 20 kilometers from downtown, there is a memorial park dedicated the victims. The centerpiece is the Pancasila Monument with statues of the seven heroes, standing near the Old well in which their bodies were thrown after having been tortured and killed.

Maritime Museum (Museum Bahari)
The Maritime Museum exhibits large models of boats from various islands. The old harbour master's tower stands nearby.

Textile Museum
Situated on Jalan KS. Tubun 4, the museum houses a vast collection of textiles. It exhibits many kinds of Indonesian traditional weaving such as cotton, Javanese batik, and tenun ikat. All instruments and equipments of those traditional weaving are also shown there.

Fatahillah Square
Fatahillah Square is situated on Jalan Pintu Besar Utara 27. It offers visitors three museums: The Wayang Museum, Jakarta Historical Museum and Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics. You can easily mark the place since it has a fountain in the middle of the square and the Portuguese cannon on the north side.

The Wayang Museum
The finest displays of exclusive Indonesian puppet known as wayang is shown in this museum. Located on the western side of Taman Fatahillah, this museum also exhibits puppets from all parts of Indonesia as well as other Southeast Asia parts. The wooden and leather puppets (known as wayang kulit) displayed here represent the finest craftsmanship in this particular form of traditional theater. Every Sunday morning visitors may see shortened performances of the wayang kulit.

Jakarta Historical Museum
This museum is one of three museums located in Fatahillah Square on Jalan Pintu Besar Utara 27. It houses rows of collection of furnishings and portrait originated from 18th century which was owned by the former colonial governors in Jakarta.

Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics
You may find all rare collections of ceramics and terracotta here. The museum located in Fatahillah Square too.

National Archives
Any researcher of Indonesian history can find any information needed here. The building is located on Jalan Gajah Mada 11. It's was built in 1760 and stays as the remain of the Dutch East Indies Company estates.

Indonesia in Miniature Park (TMII)
This 300-hectare area is an extensive park representing Indonesia's provinces and their traditional characteristics. TMII offers a glimpse of beautiful Indonesia in just a single location. It also has a famous orchid garden, bird park with a walk-in aviary, a fauna museum and recreational grounds with a swimming pool and restaurants.

"Teater Imax Keong Emas"
Keong Emas means Golden Snail. This theater is easily recognized because the roof is built following the golden snail shape. Located in the Taman Mini, the Imax Theater presents "Beautiful Indonesia" on a very large screen using the latest Imax system.

Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM)
It is said to be the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia and consists of exhibition halls, theaters, an academy of arts, gallery, archives building, and planetarium. There are performances almost every night with everything from traditional and modern dance, local and foreign film festivals, poetry readings and theater, to every style of music.

Located on southward down Jalan Menteng Raya, TIM presents various cultural events like Indonesian dance and drama. TIM's monthly programs are distributed through travel agents and hotels. TIM serves not only as the center of contemporary Indonesian art, but has become in recent years a central showcase for international performing arts in Indonesia. A monthly program of events is tourist offices.

Gedung Kesenian Jakarta
Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (GKJ) or the Jakarta Playhouse is one of cultural sites in Taman Ismail Marzuki area. For you the cultural lover, GKJ is the site you musn't miss. This is where the local and imported cultural events are shown to the public. In this renovated colonial era building you can enjoy all the music, dance and theater performances from modern or traditional artists.

Sunda Kelapa
To those who find themselves really fond of fishermen life, Sunda Kelapa offers you an old inter-island port and also a fisherman's wharf. Bugis schooners from South Sulawesi anchoring there gracefully offer one of the finest sights in Jakarta. They belong to one of the last fleets of sail boats in the world and still ply the seas between the islands, as they did centuries ago, carrying merchandise.

In the early 16th century, this place was used for trading purposes between Portuguese with the Hindu Kingdom of Pajajaran. This site was also used by the Dutch to dominate Jakarta and the rest of Indonesia. Nowadays we still can see the remains like an old fort Kasteel Batavia which was the trading post of the Dutch East Indies Company.