Karo Heritage Museum is a place where you can see relics and collections of Karo heritage, located in Berastagi, Karo. It takes about 3 hours to reach the location from Medan. To see it on the map, click here.
What’s Special
Karo Heritage Museum is the largest museum in Karo. It is a must visit if you intend to understand Karo culture. Karo is a sub-tribe of Batak, the predominant inhabitants of Lake Toba. The museum holds a collection of 800 antiques dating back to the 1700s.
What to Enjoy
Several photographs in the frames explain the history of Karo land and people. Tour this part of the gallery as the first priority.
Then move to see everything else on display. Find various ancient agricultural, carpentry and hunting tools, namely amak mbelang and amak cur (a type of woven mat). Also, there was a box to store and pound betel with various kinds and carvings. Further, there are padung-padung commonly used by Karo women, as well as giant masks for the gundala-gundala dance. There are also everyday tools that Karo people use, such as kitchen utensils, cutlery, water storage, and other trinkets.
This museum also houses Lak-lak Library. It consists of many small, medium to large sized books that the Dutch brought from Karo. For instance, there is a book of ancient characters (in the original Karo script). Not surprisingly, the script was handwritten in ink from wood sap. There are also a Toba Batak dictionary, some art and craft objects, and a dictionary of Indonesian-Karo.
What to Expect
The museum opens every Monday to Saturday, from 9 am to 4 pm. By the way, the entrance fee is Rp 20,000 ($ 1.5).
What Visitors Say
“A good place to learn about Karo culture.” Yosafat Immanuel Sembiring (Source)
“This museum was build and made by a Cappusin Priest, his name is RP. Leo Joosteen ( from Netherland ). Very amazing that a foreigner wants to make a Karo museum for heritage. Bravo !!!” Julia “JC” Lorenza (Source)
“By visiting this place, I feel as if I have returned to the past and it is as if my predecessors came back to life and I am involved in their daily lives through the equipment stored here.” junaiditambak (Source)
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