The iconic golden snail at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah
Taman Mini "Indonesia Indah" (TMII) (Indonesian for "Beautiful Indonesia" Miniature Park) is a culture-based recreational area located in East Jakarta, Indonesia. It is operated by Yayasan Harapan Kita, a foundation established by Siti Hartinah, the first lady during most of the New Order and wife of Suharto, and still run by Suharto's descendants since his death. It has an area of about 100 hectares (250 acres). The park is a synopsis of Indonesian culture, with virtually all aspects of daily life in Indonesia's 26 (in 1975) provinces encapsulated in separate pavilions with the collections of rumah adat as the example of Indonesian vernacular architecture, clothing, dances and traditions are all depicted impeccably. Apart from that, there is a lake with a miniature of the archipelago in the middle of it, cable cars, museums, Keong Emas Imax cinema, a theater called the Theatre of My Homeland (Theater Tanah Airku) and other recreational facilities which make TMII one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city.[1]
Since 2007 Taman Mini Indonesia Indah launched new logo with branding slogan Pesona Indonesia ("Indonesian Charm").
On December 31, 2014 World Peace Committee decided TMII as International Civilization Park and World Peace Theme Park.[2]
History
Nitra, the mascot of TMII
The idea of presenting Indonesia in a small scale was conceived by former Indonesian first lady, Siti Hartinah, better known as Tien Suharto. It came about at a convention on 8 Cendana Street at March 13, 1970. Through this recreational site, she hoped to cultivate national pride in more Indonesian people.[1] A project called "Indonesian Miniature Project" was started by Harapan Kita Foundation in 1972. The concept of this culture-based recreational area was inspired by Indonesia's unparalleled natural riches and local folk diversity.
Characteristics
TMII was originally located on a public area of 145 ha, as farms and fields. Later, the team was able to convert these fields into a suitable location for the construction. The topography of TMII is rather hilly, consistent with what the builders required. The team claimed the advantage of utilizing this uneven terrain was the ability to create interesting and diverse landscapes and enclosures, as well as reflecting the various characteristics of the Indonesian environment.[1]
Parts of TMII
Venues of Indonesian Provinces
The Jaipongan dance performance in West Java pavilion in TMII.The miniature of Indonesian Archipelago in the center lake viewed from the cable car.West Sumatra pavilion in TMII.
Since each Indonesian province maintains its own unique and distinct cultures, shelters, attire and dialects, TMII built a model of each of the houses from Indonesian provinces. TMII attempted not only to reconstruct the homes of the various provinces, but also to create a realistic model of the environment and shelters of the various people of Indonesia.[3] The venues, which are situated around the main lake in a similar fashion to the different islands of the Indonesian archipelago, are thematically divided into six areas in respect to the main islands of Indonesia; Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sulawesi, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Maluku and Papua. Each pavilions featured in typical vernacularIndonesian architecture of each provinces. Examples of Indonesian traditional vernacular houses are: Joglo and Omah Kudus Javanese houses of Central Java and Yogyakarta pavilion; MinangRumah Gadang of West Sumatra pavilion; Malay houses of Jambi and Riau provinces; TorajanTongkonan and Bugis house of South Sulawesi pavilion; and Balinese house compound with intricately carved candi bentar split gate and kori agung gate.
It also displays various traditional costumes, wedding costumes, dance costumes, also ethnography artifacts such as weapons and daily tools, models of traditional architecture are in display to describes the way of life of its people. Each provinces pavilions also equipped with small stage, amphitheatre or auditorium for traditional dance performances, traditional music performances or traditional ceremonies that usually held in Sundays. Some of these pavilions also equipped with cafeterias featuring traditional Indonesian cuisines and also souvenir shops offering various handicrafts, T-shirts and souvenirs.
Since 1975 until the 2000s, the original design of TMII consist of a model of the houses from the 27 provinces of Indonesia, including East Timor. But after the secession of East Timor from Indonesia in 2002, the East Timor pavilion changed its status to become the Museum of East Timor. Also since Indonesia now consist of 33 provinces, currently the new province pavilions of Bangka Belitung, Banten, West Sulawesi, North Maluku, Gorontalo, Riau Islands, and West Papua is being built in northeast part of the park.
The religious buildings of several official faiths is meant to showcase the inter-faiths tolerance and religious harmony of Indonesia. The religious buildings are:
Taman Burung is divided into five exhibits: Kubah barat (west dome) which include birds on the Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and lesser Sunda islands, kubah timur (east dome) which include birds from Sulawesi, Maluku Islands, and New Guinea, river exhibits, individual exhibits, and raptor exhibits. The park also own several birds from outside of Indonesia, such as pheasants from China and crowned crane from Africa.
Birds for sale
To avoid overpopulation, the park sell non-endangered birds ranging from the cheap albino pigeons to the fancy blue peafowl
Taman Reptil is located in the Komodo Museum's park. The park mainly focus on Indonesian reptiles, but there are some reptile that came from North America, South America, and Africa.
Museum Serangga is invertebrates museum that have collections from around Southeast Asia. The Museum also have live insect exhibits, and small mammal park. The museum also have a breeding facility on certain type of butterfly.
Dunia Air Tawar is the Second largest freshwater and brackish themed aquarium in Asia. The park has 6000 animals of 126 species, including reptiles, amphibian, crustaceans, and fish. It is currently managed by the former Dahlia Souvenir Shop shopkeeper Muchamad Chatim Magfur.
The exhibit housed Giant gourami from West Sumatra and Thailand, which both are albino. The exhibit also include normal gourami and albino short body gourami.
This small laboratory houses several species of fishes, arthropods, amphibians and reptiles, both local and invasive. This used to be Dahlia Souvenir Shop before it was moved to the insect museum. There's also an empty vertical terrarium that will be housing some Bronchocela jubata in the future.
Pusat peragaan Iptek or Science and Technology Display Centre is under coordination of Research and Technology Ministry. At the end of 2011 has 15 sites with about 300 science tools and visited by 341,000 visitor in a year. The sites are Robotic, Electric and Magnet, Mechanics, Mathematics, etc.[4]
Museums
The Tumpeng style Purna Bhakti Pertiwi Museum displaying artworks and souvenirs collections of Suharto.The Balinese style Indonesia Museum.
As of 2011[update] the operator planned to disburse $35 million for building a new Discovery World theme park. A 2-hectare area was to be built and it was predicted to be operated before the end of 2012. It would serve 100 venues/rides and was predicted to attract 1.2 million visitors from Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Gallery
Tourists take a ride on this cable car to enjoy bird-eye view of this park
Tourists take a ride on this cable car to enjoy bird-eye view of this park
South Kalimantan pavilion in TMII
Bali pavilion gate
Toba Batak house at North Sumatra pavilion
Nias house at North Sumatra pavilion
Baluk house at West Kalimantan pavilion
Jambi pavilion
South Sumatra pavilion
Riau pavilion
Malay house at Riau pavilion
Aceh pavilion
Toraja house, South Sulawesi pavilion
Bugis house, South Sulawesi pavilion
A joglo at Central Java pavilion
Interior of Javanese Joglo house, Central Java pavilion
Kong Miao Confucian temple
Swan pedalo rides at archipelago lake
