The Wayang Museum is also located at the Fatahillah Square. “Wayang” are the typical stylized Indonesian puppets that draw their tales from the Hindu epic poems the Mahabharata and the Ramayana as well as relate the feats of ancient Javanese kings in destroying their opponents.

While “wayang” is a way of popular story-telling yet, it is a sophisticated art form that conveys deep philosophical thoughts and learnings. For this reason Wayang has also been designated a UNESCO World Heritage.

Most well known are the finely crafted leather puppets that are used for shadow puppet performances, but in this Museum you will find all kinds of puppets from different parts of Java. There are the wayang golek puppets from West Java. These are wooden puppets played by the “dalang” or the story teller, who changes his voice and intonations following the character in action, whether male or female, king or commoner.

Wayang can also be performed by human actors, in which case it is called “Wayang Wong”. Here are also masks, wayang beber, Wayang Revolusi, Wayang Suket and more, totalling some 5,500 items.

The Museum also has a collection of puppets from different countries, from China, India, Thailand, Cambodia to France and Suriname.The oldest in the collection is the Wayang Kyai Intan created in 1870.