The majority of Java’s museums are in the national capital of Jakarta. The Monas is the 137-meter (450 feet) tall National Monument, built in the 1960s and 70s to honor the Indonesian ideals of patriotism and freedom. Atop the tower is a large bronze plate of several tons coated with 35 kilograms of pure gold. The museum is at the bottom level, but the top has an observatory deck that offers a panoramic view of the city.

The Satria Mandala Museum is dedicated to the history of Indonesian armed forces, the Central Museum houses native cultural and historical artifacts, and the Jakarta Museum holds a large collection of Dutch East India Company memorabilia from the 1700s.

There is also the Ragunana Zoo, which has about 300 species of animals both indigenous and imported. The Taman Impian Jaya Ancol is an amuseument park with water rides, roller coasters and ferris wheels. The Taman Mini Indonesian Indah is a park of several hundred acres dedicated to Indonesian cultural diversity. There are exhibits on most of the provinces and ethnic groups that make up the archipelago nation.

Among the museums not in Jakarta are the Mpu Tantular Museum of East Java in Surabaya, a city history museum, and the Merapi Volcano Museum in the small village of Kaliurang, which is due to open in 2007.