More than mere evidence of postage payments for mail services, stamps serve as vessels for exploring the history and culture of a nation and tracing the evolution of communication media and printing technology. This kind of knowledge is what you can get at the Stamp Museum, which showcases a collection of stamps from around the world.
The birth of the Stamp Museum traces back to the story of Mrs. Tien Soeharto, who visited the stamp exhibition by PT Pos Indonesia (Persero) during the 6th Asia Pacific Scout Jamboree in Cibubur in June 1981. From there, the idea to establish the Stamp Museum in TMII was born, and it was then officially inaugurated by President Soeharto on September 29, 1983.
With an architecture adorned with Balinese and Javanese-style carvings and statues, soaring majestically on a 9,590 m2 land, the museum is divided into a right wing serving as the management office and meeting room, and a left wing serving as an additional post office for PT Pos Indonesia (Persero). The two gateways of the Stamp Museum are inspired by the model of Candi Bentar, separating the outer courtyard from the complex building courtyard. In the front yard, there is a globe with a dove carrying a letter in its beak, reflecting the global reach of PT Pos Indonesia (Persero).
At the entrance, visitors are greeted by wayang puppetry tales, from the messenger puppet Dhuta Dharma that comes in the form of a Hanoman statue, to two Balinese puppet paintings by Drs. Wayan Sutha S depicting the history of correspondence before paper was known.
Inside the Stamp Museum, there are various exhibition rooms with different collections and displays. These include the stamp-making process and printing cylinder; stamp collections from the Dutch colonial period, Japanese occupation, to the independence of Indonesia; stamps and ‘seeking memories’ souvenir sheets from 1950 to 1993; stamps organized by period and theme; and thematic stamps about scouts and sports. Not only that, in the final exhibition space, there is also a display illustrating the moment when Mrs. Tien Soeharto signed the First Day Cover of the 6th International Stamp Day in Cibubur.
