The Museum of West Nusa Tenggara

The Museum of West Nusa Tenggara

The museum of West Nusa Tenggara is located in the downtown of Ampenan which was built by the decree of The Education and Culture Minister, Dr. Daoed Joesoef on January 23, 1982. More than 7000 historical objects are neatly organized based on the elements of culture such as language, knowledge system, social system, technology, bread and butter system, religion and Art. In front of the museum, there is a traditional building of Sasak tribe named Berugak which was built in modern architecture.

For you who love historical and cultural tourism, do not forget to prioritize this destination on your list when you visit Indonesia, especially West Nusa Tenggara province. The main enchantment of this museum is its collections within where you will not only find the collections from Sasak tribe, but also some collections from Bali, Samawa and Mbojo (The indigenes of Sumbawa Island).

The building comprises two parts, the front room, and the gallery room. Both of them are connected by a corridor where you will see the wall painting illustrating cultural items of Sasak tribe such as Gandrung, Rudat, Cepung, Wayang, dan Jaran Kamput. In addition, on the right side of the corridor, there are illustrations of Malengke, Toja, Konya, Sak Eco, and Rebana Rea.

The gallery room consists of two rooms, the first room and the second room. The first gallery room is used to keep many ancient photographs like Stegodon, Paleokarbau, and Hypothalamus fossils. Moreover, you can find many scarce woods like Rajumas, Cempaka, Lingsar, Bajur, Kepundung and Kelincung in this room. Most of the cultural artifacts relating to the people‘s cultures are displayed in the second gallery room where you will see some traditional dresses of Indonesian tribes such as Sasak, Bali, Mbojo and Samawa. 

An ancient artifacts in shape of Siwa Mahadewa Statue (from the 9^th century), equipments used for the cycle of life ceremony in their daily life such as Ceret, Kendi, Pondi and Kipas, and other tools that was used for inaugurating the Kings of Bima, Sumbawa, and Selaparang Sultanates are distinguish features of the museum. You will also find some original manuscripts like Asta Dasta Parwa (Mahabharata), Takepan Kotoragam, Takepan Jatiswara, Katika Book, and pisau Pangotthat show the original language of indigenous people in the Central Lombok.

The Location of Museum of West Nusa Tenggara

The Museum of West Nusa Tenggara is on Panji Tilar Negara Street No.6, Ampenan Selatan sub-district, about 7 km away from Mataram city. It is about 15 minutes from Selaparang airport to reach the The Museum of West Nusa Tenggara. However, if you choose to start from Mandalika bus station, Cidomo (the typical public transportation vehicles from Lombok) will carry you to the destination for approximately 30 minutes passing by Seruni crossroad. The Museum of West Nusa Tenggara is opened for public on Tuesday until Saturday at 8 a.m. – 13 p.m. The ticket price to enter the destination is in the confirmation process.