Indonesia
The Sepuluh Nopember Museum at Tugu Pahlawan Monument
Curious of listening the original recording of Bung Tomo’s speech? Or to witness by yourself what is PSU 40 mm canon the arek-arek Suroboyo took over from the allied forces in the battle of November 10th 1945? They are all still well preserved in Sepuluh Nopember Museum Surabaya.
The museum was built seven meters underground of Tugu Pahlawan Monument property. That is why you can’t see the 1,360m2 building there. “The museum was built underground to give clear view of the monument. Just imagine if it is on the ground, people can’t get good angle when taking pictures of Tugu Pahlawan. The building will come in their way when trying to shoot for good view,” MT Agus, Head of Sub Unit Conservartion Preparation and Education Counselor of UPTD Tugu Pahlawan Monument and Sepuluh Nopember Museum.
The museum started to build on November 10th 1991 and was publicly opened on February 20th 2000. It has 145 content s of collection on display like weaponry, uniforms, radios, cars, cassettes and such. With only Rp 6.000 for the ticket, we can find many historical items that witnessed the epic battle of November 10th 1945 in Surabaya.
There’s also hall of fame, statues of the soldiers, settings of crucial moments enveloped in eight static diorama and electronic diorama presenting movies of the great battle. “We want to change the mindset in community that museum is a boring place where old withered items kept. In here, not only visitors get to see the valuable collections, but also the sound recording and the war movies,” Agus explained, proudly.
The museum also performs the personal collection of the three great heroes ((Bung Tomo, Mayjeng Sungkono and HR Muhammad). Among the collection is the radio used by Bung Tomo on November 9th 1945 to broadcast his speech. It is through the radio, Bung Tomo gave fiery speech to burn the flame of people’s spirit to fight against allied’s ultimatum.
Another not less intriguing aspect is photos related to the events that made November 10th the National Heroes Day, Superkids. They are the ripped off of the Dutch’s flag at Hotel Yamato, the assault on Kempetai (Japan military police) headquarters and the Baad Van Justitie (Dutch High Court Building), that becomes the area of the present Tugu Pahlawan Monument.
Every day, the museum is visited by at least 100 people. In weekends the number may rise to around 1000. “We provide the attractive activities for the museum facilities. For example, on Sunday we have theatrical drama of the battle of November 10th 1045 by the Roodeburgh (Red Bridge) community. They perform two sessions, at 08.000 and 09.00,” Agus added on.
The Sepuluh Nopember Museum have had several awards, like 2014 Anugerah Wisata Jawa Timur for the Best III of Daya Tarik Wisata Budaya category by East Java Department of Cultural and Tourism. And also runner up of Surabaya Tourism 3rd Destination Award for Communicative Information category by government of Surabaya and Ciputra University.
So if you are curious of where the name City of Heroes for Surabaya comes from, just visit this great place, okay?
Sepuluh Nopember Museum
Jl Pahlawan Surabaya
Telp/fax 031-3571100
Monday-Friday open 08.00-15.00
Saturday-Sunday open 07.00-13.00
HAFIDA INDRAWATI
PHOTOS: HAFIDA INDRAWATI
