The Trowulan Museum is an

archaeological museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological Types Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts inside buildings, such as Na ...

located in

Trowulan Trowulan is an archaeological site in Trowulan (subdistrict), Trowulan Subdistrict, Mojokerto Regency, in the Indonesian province of East Java. It includes approximately 100 square kilometres and has been theorized to be the site of the eponymo ...

Mojokerto Mojokerto ( jv, ꦩꦗꦏꦼꦂꦠ (''Måjåkěrtå'')) is a city in East Java Province, Indonesia. It is located 40 km southwest of Surabaya, and constitutes one of the component units of the Surabaya metropolitan area (known as Gerbangkert ...

, in

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

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 ...

. The museum was built in order to house the artifacts and archaeological findings discovered around Trowulan and its vicinity. The location is one of the more important in Indonesia in relation to tracing the history of

Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...

Most of the museum collections is originated from the Majapahit era, however the collections also covered the era of Kahuripan, Kediri, and

Singhasari Singhasari ( jv, ꦏꦫꦠꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦱꦶꦔ꧀ꦲꦱꦫꦶ, translit=Karaton Singhasari or , id, Kerajaan Singasari) was a Javanese Hindu kingdom located in east Java between 1222 and 1292. The kingdom succeeded the Kingdom of Kediri as ...

kingdoms in East Java. The museum is located on the western side of the kolam Segaran. Trowulan museum has the largest collection of Majapahit relics in Indonesia.

History

The Trowulan Museum's history is intertwined with

archaeological site itself. The ancient city ruins at Trowulan had been discovered by the 19th century.

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...

, governor of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

from 1811 until 1816 reported the existence of ruins of temples scattered about the country for many miles. Much of the region was blanketed with dense

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

forest at that time, making detailed survey difficult. The urgent need to prevent looting and stealing from Trowulan archaeological site was one of the main reasons to build a simple archaeological storage building that became the old Trowulan Museum. It was established by

Henri Maclaine Pont Henri Maclaine Pont (Meester Cornelis, Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia, 21 June 1884 – The Hague, 3 December 1971) was a Dutch architect and archaeologist active in Indonesia, acclaimed for his synthesis of Architecture of Indonesia, Jav ...

, a Dutch architect and archaeologist, and the Mojokerto regent Kanjeng Adipati Ario Kromodjojo Adinegoro. The new museum was officially opened in 1987. Covering a spacious area of some 57,625 square metres, this new site accommodates the collection of the old Trowulan Museum, as well as the bulk of the stone sculpture which used to be housed in the museum of Mojokerto. A newer museum is also proposed for the area and the location has been proposed as a World Heritage area

Collection

Today the museum not only houses the archaeological relics from Majapahit era, but also collects and displays various archaeological relics discovered all over East Java. From the era of King

Airlangga Airlangga (also spelled Erlangga), regnal name Rakai Halu Sri Lokeswara Dharmawangsa Airlangga Anantawikramottunggadewa (born 1000/02 in Bali, Indonesia – died 1049 in Java), was the only raja of the Kingdom of Kahuripan. The Kingdom was ...

, Kediri, to the era of

and

. Large collections of Hindu-Buddhist stone sculptures as well as

Majapahit Terracotta Majapahit Terracotta is the terracotta art and craft dated from Majapahit era circa 13th to 15th century. Significant terracotta earthenware artifacts from this period were discovered in Trowulan, East Java. Over the years many terracotta sculptu ...

art also displayed in the museum. Among the objects on display, include the famous portrait statue of

portrayed as

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

mounting

Garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda is a ...

, from Candi Belahan. A winged figure which is said to portray the legendary king of Blambangan, Menak Jinggo. A part of Candi recovered from a site at Ampelgading Malang. A statue displays the story Samodramanthana, or "The Churning of the Ocean of Milk" in finely carved relief.

Notes

External links

Trowulan Museum
{{authority control Museums in East Java Museums established in 1987 1987 establishments in Indonesia Archaeological museums in Indonesia

History

Collection

See also

Notes

External links