There are lots of extraordinary tourist destinations offered by the Surabaya city government. Apart from being popular for its culinary varieties such as rujak cingur, lontong racing, and spicy chili sauce, Surabaya also has another attraction, namely museums. Of the approximately 439 museums throughout Indonesia, 13 of them are in the city of Surabaya. One of these museums is the Education Museum which was inaugurated by Mayor ꧌ꦠꦿꦶꦫꦶꦱ꧀ꦩꦲꦫꦶꦤꦶ Tri Rismaharini on November 25 2019 and is located on Jalan Genteng Kali No. 10 which I visited on Sunday, August 20 2023.
꧌ꦩꦸꦱꦶꦪꦸꦩ꧀꧍This museum is located on the banks of the Kalimas River, integrated with the Expression Park which was inaugurated on May 7 2011 by the Mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini. Apart from being beautiful with lots of trees, this place is also equipped with a paid parking area, 3,000 rupiah for motorbikes and 8,000 rupiah for cars. The facilities available at the Educational Museum are quite complete, including classroom dioramas, garden tables and chairs in the yard, toilets, lactation rooms and prayer rooms. So, what are the collections of this museum?
Before we explore each room in the Surabaya Education Museum, we will be greeted by an officer who directs us to scan the ticket barcode which is installed to the right of the museum door, adjacent to the officer’s desk. If there are problems with the scanning process, the officer will ask us to fill out a museum visit form via the website https://tiketwisata.surabaya.go.id/. Then after we get the online ticket (free) the officer will scan our online ticket with ꧌ꦥꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦰꦺꦭ꧀꧍ cellphone and then invite us into the room.
Entering the museum room, a diorama of an ancient human lighting a fire is displayed on the left, followed by other collections such as ancient books and manuscripts, ꧌ꦭꦺꦴꦤ꧀ꦠꦂ꧍ lontar, and several narratives from the museum collection on the right parallel to the wall. This museum displays the history of education starting from pre-literate, imperial, colonial, struggle to ꧌ꦏꦼꦩꦼꦂꦝꦺꦏꦴꦤ꧀꧍ independence.
One thing that caught my attention was a collection of leather manuscripts containing Macapat. The information written under the collection states that the manuscript begins with ꧌ꦥꦸꦥꦸꦃꦄꦱ꧀ꦩꦫꦟ꧀ꦝꦤ꧍ Pupuh Asmarandana. Apart from macapat songs, there are also other collections of Javanese script written on paper, telling stories about the Prophet Muhammad and his descendants. However, the condition of many of these manuscripts has been damaged so that many of the Javanese characters are illegible. Even though there is a description of the collection, there is no information about when the manuscript was written.
Towards the next room, we can see a statue of a child learning the Koran with the teacher. In a room with a ‘colonial era’ theme, there is a bicycle on display complete with a statue depicting the figure of a male teacher carrying a leather bag and wearing a ꧌ꦱꦺꦴꦔ꧀ꦏꦺꦴꦏ꧀꧍ songkok. In this room there is also a collection of ancient typewriters, teplok lamps, books, magazines and school benches that were used in schools in the past.
At the back of this room there is a statue depicting the ꧌ꦱꦼꦫꦒꦩ꧀꧍ school children’s uniforms starting from the elementary education level, namely red and white, blue and white for Junior High School and gray and white which is used for the uniform of high school level students.
This museum serves visitors from 08.00 – 21.00 WIB. However, like other museums, this museum does not provide services on Mondays. ꧌ ꦩꦸ ꦱꦶ ꦪꦸ ꦩ꧀ꦥꦼ ꦟ꧀ꦝꦶ ꦝꦶ ꦏ ꦤ꧀ꦯꦸ ꦫ ꦨ ꦪ ꧍ The Surabaya Education Museum can be said to be friendly to foreign visitors because the narrative presented is already use English. However, if you want to visit and discuss on a bench in the yard for a long time, you should not forget to bring a drink because this museum does not provide a canteen. Apart from that, this area is quite far from shops, food stalls or culinary centers so the only thing possible is food and drink services from online applications. ꧋ ꦆ ꦠ ꦯꦸ ꦫ ꦗ