South Sumatra Museum

The South Sumatra Museum consists of two smaller museums, Balaputera Dewa and Sriwijaya. This museum is more popularly known as Balaputera Dewa Museum.

Balaputera Dewa Museum is a public museum which stores and maintains historical and cultural objects. Balaputra Dewa is the name of a Sriwijaya king. This 23,565 square meter (5.8 acres) museum has 3,715 collections consisting 16 geological, 26 biological, 2,073 ethnographical, 87 archaeological, 37 historical, 456 numismatic, 29 philological, and 221 ceramologic collections; and 55 art objects, and 15 modern technological collections.

The Balaputera Dewa Museum also has collections of Limas and Ulu traditional houses, and statue wards. The Sriwijaya Museum is a special museum for historical objects of the Sriwijaya kingdom which lasted from the 7th to 13th centuries. It has 191 collections.

Both museums are only closed on Mondays and national public holidays. They are open from 08:00 to 15:30, except for Saturdays and Fridays, which are half days. The entrance fee to Balaputera Dewa Museum is Rp 500 (5 cents US) per child and Rp 1,500 (15 cents US) per adult. The entrance fee to the Sriwijaya Museum is only Rp 250 (2.5 cents US) per child and Rp 500 (5 cents US) per adult.


Getting There

This museum is located in Palembang city. To get to Palembang, you can take a flight to Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport, which is located on Tanjung Api-Api Street, and accessible from many countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, China, and Thailand. The distance between the airport and the museum is about 3 km. You can take a taxi or rented car from the airport. The museum is located at Srijaya I No. 288 Km 5,5 Palembang.


Getting Around

The South Sumatra Museum is a big building but you will find it easy to walk around.


To Do

In this Museum, all collections are well-maintained, enabling visitors to see and learn about the collections easily.


To Stay

Since Palembang was the host city of a National Sports Event, it developed rapidly including its hotels making it easy to find rooms in the vicinity. Since the museum is located in the City Center, you can easily find star-rated, or ordinary hotels along Kapten A Rivai, Sudirman, R Sukamto, Veteran, and POM IX Streets.


To Eat

For those of you who like culinary tours, you could go to Palembang City Center. Near the Palembang Grand Mosque and the Musi River, you can find traditional foods like empek-empek panggang for Rp 1,500 to Rp 23,000 (0.12 to 2.30 US dollars) per piece, depending where you eat. In addition, there is a food stall selling es belimbing (star fruit ice). It is the only food stall that sells es belimbing. The stall is called Ujuk.

You can also try the famous Martabak Har (omelete) in this oldest city in Indonesia, or try the Nasi Minyak (oily rice) which you can only find here.


To Buy

There are no shops selling souvenirs near the museum, but if you walk somewhere near the Musi River, you will find two markets seeling various types of foods and souvenirs including fruits and Songket (woven fabrics). These markets are called Pasar 16 Ilir and Pasar 35 Ilir. About two kilometers from there, you could find a Songket center and 50 meters from there, you could find a Lekeur (carving) center.


Tips

This is is the right place for those who like art and cultural tours. Don't forget to ask for a free leaflet about the museum and local culture.


Quoted from : http://www.indonesia.travel/en/destination/176/south-sumatra-museum

Supported by : JavaTourism, Lintang Buana Tours