MPU TANTULAR MUSEUM, EAST JAVA

Collection of Mpu Tantular Museum consist more or less about 1500 collections, which some from the pre-historical period, the Hindu and Buddist Kingdom era,the Islamic Kingdom, Colonial era and Modern era. Mpu Tantular Museum are and expansion from Stedelijk Historich, a museum located in Surabaya by Von Faber, a German collector who stays in Surabaya.

 

Von Faber has begun consruction of the museum since 1922 and is well established in year 1933. The museum is open for public since 25 June 1937. Von Faber passed away on 30^th September 1955. Upon his deceased, the museum does not have enough attention and care that has left some of the collection broken or lost.

The Museum used to be located in Raadhius ketabang road, and was later moved to Jalan Tegalsari to a house owned by a window named Han Tjiong King. The house itself is 5 times larger that the initial location. Later in 1972, the museum Stedelijk Historich Surabaya was renamed as East Java Museum and was again relocated to Jalan Pemuda 3 Surabaya (currently Trimurti high school). Since 1974 up to 2001. The museum is being maintained by UPT (Technical Executor Unit) under the authority of Cultural Decorated of Indonesia. In November 1 1974, the museum was again renamed as National Museum of the East Java province “MPU Tantular”. MPU Tantular himself is the writer of the Arjunawijaya and Sutasoma book, which highlighted the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika philosophy (the motto of Indonesia)

Ever since, the museum continues to grow, and soon the room of the museum starts to dilapidate, creating and effort to expand  and create new room to store the collections. This effort was finally realized by constructing a new building. Since 14 May 2004, the MPU Tantular museum moved to the final destination in Jalan Buduran, Sidoarjo, on the intersection of Jalan Diponegoro and Darmo Surabaya.

Since 2005 the collection of the museum increased rapidly to 1500 collection, which are then classified into 10 categories: Biological, Geological, Ethnographical, Archeological, Historical, Ceramic, Philological, Fine arts, Technology, Numismatic and Heraldic.