Museum Maluku, also known by the abbreviation MuMa, is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

dedicated to the

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

and

Moluccan people Moluccans are the Austronesian-speaking and Papuan-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the Maluku Islands (also called the Moluccas), Indonesia. The region was historically known as the Spice Islands, and today consists of two Indonesian provin ...

living in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Museum Maluku was located in the city of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

until October 2012, when it closed its doors due to inadequate financial means. Its Moluccan heritage collection was preserved and managed by the Moluccan Historical Museum Foundation, allowing it to remain accessible in various ways. After temporary accommodation in the Moluccan Church Center in

Houten Houten () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. Population centres The municipality consists of the following towns: * 't Goy * Houten * Schalkwijk * Tull en 't Waal Houten (town) The main town in the municipality is ...

, the collection was relocated to the in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

in December 2017. Museum Maluku reopened on June 27, 2019.

History

Moluccans in the Netherlands

Approximately 12,500 Moluccans arrived in the Netherlands on a temporary basis in 1951, following the end of Dutch colonial rule in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Though initially meant to be temporary residents, the Dutch government began regarding the Moluccans as permanent residents of the country in 1956, and began promoting

integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

within Dutch society. The Moluccans were prevented from returning to Maluku in Indonesia for social and economic reasons until the 1980s.

Museum Maluku

In 1986, the Dutch government announced its intention to open a museum as a gift to the Moluccan community in the Netherlands. In a statement released by both the Dutch government and the Badan Persatuan (Moluccan Unitary Movement), which jointly developed the new institution, the museum was described as a "living monument', providing an image 'of the history of the Moluccan community, which may also serve to stimulate the contemporary development of Moluccan art and culture in the Netherlands." The joint press release announcing the future museum for the Moluccan community was released on April 21, 1986. The Museum Maluku, or Moluks Historisch Museum (Moluccan Historical Museum), as it was first called, was opened to the public in Utrecht in November 1990. It transitioned into a private

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

in 1995. In addition to the permanent collection, the Museum Maluku houses temporary exhibitions and an auditorium which can seat eighty people. The museum also includes an educational research center and a small cafe featuring Moluccan cuisine.

Museum partnerships

The Museum Maluku has partnered with numerous Dutch, Indonesian and American organisations to establish exhibitions and cultural exchanges. Its Dutch collaborators continue to include the Dutch government and the various Moluccan organizations within the country. The museum has also partnered with other Dutch cultural institutions including the

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

, the Dutch Museum Association,

Centraal Museum The Centraal Museum is the main museum in Utrecht, Netherlands, founded in 1838. The museum has a wide-ranging collection, mainly of works produced locally. The collection of the paintings by the Northern Mannerist Joachim Wtewael is by a lon ...

in Utrecht, in

, the

Royal Tropical Institute The Royal Tropical Institute (Dutch: Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, KIT) is an applied knowledge institute located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is an independent centre of expertise, education, intercultural cooperation and hospitality de ...

(KIT),

Bronbeek Bronbeek is a former Royal palace in Arnhem, Netherlands. It is now a museum and a home for elderly soldiers. Bronbeek was built early in the 19th century. In 1845 the Dutch King William III bought it. He donated it to the Dutch state in 1859 ...

and the Friends of Papua Heritage Foundation (PACE). The museum's Indonesian partners include the government of

Maluku province Maluku is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. The main city and capital of Maluku province is Ambon, Maluku, Ambon on the small Ambon Island. The land area is 62, ...

, the Museum Siwa Lima in

Ambon Ambon may refer to: Places * Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia ** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province ** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796 * Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...

, Erasmus Huis in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

, ethnic Moluccan

diplomats A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internatio ...

, the Embassy of the Netherlands to Indonesia and the Rinamakana Foundation of Ambon. The Museum Maluku launched a partnership beginning in August 2009 with the '' World of Maluku'' (WOM), a

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

published in

and edited by Samuel Wattimena. Under the collaboration, the Museum Maluku is the

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

and main

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

of the ''World of Maluku'' magazine in the Netherlands. The museum is also in talks with Erasmus Huis in Jakarta to launch a yearly Moluccan market to serve the Moluccan community residing in Indonesia's capital city. Museum Maluku has also worked with the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It is working to partner with Moluccan

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

communities in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, as well as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

References

External links

Museum Maluku

Museum Maluku on Facebook

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