Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

History

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. 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.

Venues of Indonesian Provinces

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. 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 vernacular Indonesian architecture of each provinces. Examples of Indonesian traditional vernacular houses are: Joglo and Omah Kudus Javanese houses of Central Java and Yogyakarta pavilion; Minang Rumah Gadang of West Sumatra pavilion; Malay houses of Jambi and Riau provinces; Torajan Tongkonan 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.

After the recognition of Indonesian Chinese culture as the integral part of Indonesian culture in 2000, the new Indonesian Chinese pavilion and a Confucian temple was built within the park.

Religious Buildings

The religious buildings of several official faiths is meant to showcase the inter-faiths tolerance and religious harmony of Indonesia. The religious buildings are:

Gardens and Parks

There are about ten gardens spread within TMII complex, but most are located primarily on the north and northeast side of the main lake:

Technological Centre

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.

Museums

There are fourteen museums at TMII:

Theatres

Monuments, Halls, Buildings and other Exhibits

Rides

Recreation facilities

Lodgings

Restaurants

Plans

As of 2011 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.