The museum will be renovated so that it can operate again as a source of knowledge, inspiration, and a symbol of the nation's personality, the ministry's Director General of Oil and Gas Tutuka Ariadji said.
"We hope that this museum can further develop to provide the best, innovative, educative, and informative service, and not forget history," he said in a statement received here on Friday.
The design of the Gawitra Museum would have to describe the history of oil and gas in the past, present, and future, Ariadji informed.
"The design and content of the museum must be adapted according to the era, it must be contemporary," he explained.
The Gawitra Museum revitalization team conducted a benchmarking on the museum arrangement and management of the De Tjolomadoe Museum in Karanganyar, Central Java, on October 12-13, 2021, he informed.
De Tjolomadoe was chosen as one of the benchmarking destinations because the museum is a former sugar factory that was established during the Dutch East Indies colonial era in 1861, he said.
The factory was built by Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Adipati Arya Mangkunegoro IV, Ariadji informed. Though it has been converted into a modern tourist destination, it has retained the earlier architecture and relics, such as giant machines which processed sugarcane into sugar, he said.
"We want to get information and also learn about managing the museum so that it can progress and develop and become a tourist destination for all people," head of the revitalization team for the Gawitra Museum at the Directorate General of Oil and Gas, Mukti Yunarso, said.
The Gawitra Museum was built by President Soeharto to commemorate the 100th anniversary of oil and gas exploitation in Indonesia on April 20, 1993, Yunarso informed.
The Gawitra Museum has been managed by several institutions over time, including Pertamina, the official added.
In accordance with the Letter of the Head of the Office of Receivables, State Assets, and Auctions Jakarta II of the Finance Ministry to the secretary of the Directorate General of Oil and Gas in 2017, the Gawitra Museum Building is an asset belonging to the Directorate General of Oil and Gas.
The Gawitra Museum spans three hectares and has a built-up area of 11,049 square meters. The design of the building resembles an offshore oil platform or an offshore platform with an artificial lake at the front.
The museum was one of the main destinations for visitors of Taman Mini Indonesia Indah when it was still operational.
The rooms in the museum showcase oil history. There is a theater that shows short films and slides about the origins and products of oil and gas processing in Indonesia.
The exploration section displays oil and gas exploration, including demonstrations of exploitation of oil and gas basins.
Furthermore, knowledge of the application of technology is presented through an exhibition on advanced equipment that supports the process of searching and processing natural gas.
Outside the building, other things are also exhibited, such as oil drilling equipment, and a drill tower from the 1930s, several pumps, an old logging truck, a crank gas station, and an old oil refinery.
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Translator: Sugiharto P, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
