The Aceh Tsunami Museum, located in

Banda Aceh Banda Aceh ( Acehnese: ''Banda Acèh'', Jawoë: كوتا بند اچيه) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of . The city covers an area of and had ...

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a ...

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 Gui ...

, is a museum designed as a symbolic reminder of the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern ...

disaster, as well as an educational center and an emergency disaster shelter in case the area is ever hit by a tsunami again.

Design

The Aceh Tsunami Museum was designed by Indonesian architect (and now incumbent Governor of

West Java West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...

)

Ridwan Kamil Mochamad Ridwan Kamil (born 4 October 1971) is an Indonesian architect and politician who is the 15th Governor of West Java, the most populous province of Indonesia. He was also the mayor of Bandung from 2013 to 2018. As an architect, he design ...

. The museum is a 2,500 m² four-story structure; its long curving walls covered in geometric reliefs. Inside, visitors enter through a dark, narrow corridor between two high walls of water — meant to recreate the noise and panic of the tsunami itself. The museum walls are adorned with images of people performing the

Saman dance Saman (or the dance of a thousand hands) is one of the most popular dances in Indonesia. Its origin is from the Gayo ethnic group from Gayo Lues, Aceh province, Indonesia, and is normally performed to celebrate important occasions. The dance is ...

, a symbolic gesture dedicated to the strength, discipline and religious beliefs of the

Acehnese people The Acehnese (also written as Atjehnese and Achinese) are an ethnic group from Aceh, Indonesia on the northernmost tip of the island of Sumatra. The area has a history of political struggle against the Dutch. The vast majority of the Acehnese p ...

. From above, the roof resembles a tsunami. The ground floor is modelled on the kind of traditional raised Acehnese houses that were best equipped to survive the tsunami. The building acknowledges both the victims, whose names are to be inscribed on the wall of one of the museum's internal chambers, and the surviving members of the local community. In addition to its role as a memorial for those who died, the museum also offers a place of refuge from future such events, including an "escape hill" for visitors to run to in the event of another tsunami.

Collection

Exhibitions at the museum include an electronic simulation of the

, in addition to photographs of victims and exhibits featuring stories from survivors of the disaster.

Maintenance and use

Adequate funding for the ongoing maintenance and use of the Aceh Tsunami Museum has not been forthcoming. The museum is one of a large number of so-called "tsunami assets", the precise legal ownership of which has been in dispute between different levels of Indonesian governments since at least 2009. As of late 2010, the Museum was only open intermittently and was poorly patronised.

References

{{reflist , refs = {{cite web , last = Williamson , first = Lucy , title = Tsunami museum opens in Indonesia , date = February 23, 2009 , publisher = BBC News , url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7905770.stm , accessdate = 2011-02-12 {{cite web , title = Aceh Tsunami Museum offers tribute to victims and survivors , date = 2009-03-06 , work = WorldArchitectureNews.com , publisher =

World Architecture News In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, url = http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=11248 , accessdate = 2011-02-12 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami Museums in Aceh Museums established in 2009 Buildings and structures in Banda Aceh History museums in Indonesia Natural disaster museums