The 38-year-old toured every room in the country’s most visited museum, taking shots of herself and her son with objects on display. She loves to use them as a backdrop and posts the photos on her Facebook and Instagram pages.

She observed that the museum, popularly known as Fatahillah museum, was better than the first time she visited with her eldest son during a holiday season last year. Despite enjoying her time, she had one thing to fret about: the best spots remained overcrowded.

“People crowd the popular spots, making it difficult for visitors to take good selfies,” she said, laughing.

Such a complaint is common and the museum management is taking it seriously.

It is trying to accommodate the narcissist demand for platforms designated for taking selfies in the museum that is usually overcrowded at weekends and on public holidays. Open from Tuesday through Sunday, the museum welcomes 800,000 visitors a year, making it the most-visited history museum in Indonesia, according to official figures.

The Jakarta History Museum’s service division head, Galih Hutama Putra, confirmed that the plan to set up selfie platforms was on the table.

“Taking selfies has become a culture of its own nowadays. We want to accommodate our visitors’ demand,” he said.

A team assigned for the project is identifying points that could be best for photo shoots.

The Mural Room, Sultan Agung’s painting room and Hermes statue at the museum’s inner yard have been identified as potential spots. The project is expected to be completed by Christmas.

The “selfie corners”, as the envisaged photo platforms will be called, are expected to boost the museum’s appeal and attract more visitors, especially millennials.

The Jakarta History Museum is one of the most popular destinations in Kota Tua that saw the number of visitors increase to 9.7 million in 2018 from 8.6 million in 2017.

Kota Tua’s main attraction is Fatahillah Square, an open space surrounded by Dutch colonial buildings, where visitors can go museum hopping and stroll around the area.

The museum’s latest attraction is the Prince Diponegoro chamber, officiated by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan in early April. The prince, the son of Yogyakarta’s King Hamengkubuwono III, was proclaimed a national hero for his leading role in the Java War between 1825 and 1830.

According to records, he was said to have spent about a month in Jakarta as a political prisoner before he was exiled to Makassar, South Sulawesi, where he died in 1855.

It was believed that he occupied the room in the second floor of the building that was formerly a town hall during the Dutch colonial era. The chamber displayed replicas of a bed, table, chair, bird cage and pilgrimage sticks. (das)

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