817 Historical Artifacts Affected by National Museum Fire
- vivanews/Andry Daud
Jakarta – The National Museum's Acting Head of Museum and Cultural Properties, Ahmad Mahendra revealed a total of 817 historical objects were impacted by a fire that happened at the National Museum on Saturday.
"Overall, a total of the 194 historical objects stored in the National Museum, 817 were impacted by the fire," Mahendra said on Tuesday.
"The affected collections and historical artifacts are either made of bronze, ceramics, terracotta, and wood or miniatures and replicas of prehistoric objects that were found intact or lightly to severely damaged," he added.
Mahendra also mentioned: "The evacuation process of collections and historical objects from Building A of the National Museum of Indonesia went smoothly and was carried very carefully,"
"Nearly 100 people to salvage a large number of valuable and historical artifacts inside Building A by involving the Forensic Laboratory Center,"
Museum Nasional kebakaran
- ANTARA/Humas JakFire
After the fire, a cross-unit investigation and evacuation team was formed, six affected rooms were closed by the Forensic Laboratory Center, and one affected room was closed for further investigation while the process of evacuating and moving the collection of historical objects was carried out slowly in five other rooms.
"The evacuating process collections from the affected areas to temporary storage rooms accompanied by the police, as well as conducting inventories to ensure that each historical object is accurately recorded and receives the necessary care during this recovery period," Mahendra explained.
Furthermore, the evacuation process required some heavy equipment and techniques to lift the roof of the damaged building to evacuate and save the collections and historical objects located in the affected rooms.
"It is known that the fire originated from behind Building A of the National Museum of Indonesia. We emphasize that this fire did not originate from inside the building. However, the impact of the fire caused several rooms at the back of Building A to be affected," he informed.
Previously reported, a fire broke out at the National Museum commonly known as the Elephant Museum. The Central Jakarta Fire and Rescue Department deployed eight units of cars and 32 personnel to extinguish the fire.
