Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics

Art and ceramics in the old town. The Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics, in Indonesian Museum Seni Rupa dan Keramik, stands on Fatahillah Square in the Kota Tua, or Old Town, quarter of Jakarta. It holds one of the city's most important collections of Indonesian paintings and ceramics, housed in a grand colonial building that is itself a highlight of the historic district.

A courthouse turned gallery. The museum occupies a neoclassical structure built in the 1870s as the Dutch colonial Council of Justice building, distinguished by its rows of tall columns and imposing symmetrical facade facing the square. After serving various official uses, it was restored and reopened as a museum, its high-ceilinged halls now lined with artworks rather than legal proceedings.

Inside the collection. The fine-art galleries trace the development of Indonesian painting through works by significant national artists, while the ceramics section displays terracotta, porcelain and stoneware from across the archipelago and from trading partners such as China, Vietnam and Thailand, reflecting the maritime exchanges that shaped the region. Together they show both the artistic and the commercial history of the islands.

Visiting. The museum sits on the cobbled Fatahillah Square alongside the Jakarta History Museum and the Wayang puppet museum, all within a compact, walkable colonial precinct filled with cafes, street performers and old warehouses. An inexpensive admission fee applies. Access is at ground level, though the historic upper floors involve stairs. Allow an hour or so, and combine it with the neighbouring museums and the atmospheric old harbour of Sunda Kelapa nearby for a fuller day in old Batavia. Old cannon and Dutch-era relics stand in the courtyard, and street artists and old bicycles for hire gather on the square just outside the columned entrance.