Aceh Tsunami Museum

Tsunami Museum Aceh is a tourist attraction located in Banda Aceh, built to commemorate the tsunami disaster in 2004. In addition, the museum has other functions as a media for education about disasters, as well as a place to save if in the future the tsunami comes back.
The city of Banda Aceh is now transformed into one of the tourist destinations that must be visited. Moreover, since 2013, the government began to aggressively run the Aceh visit program to attract tourists from outside the region to foreign countries. So many interesting tourist attractions that can be visited by tourists, ranging from historical tours, religion, to culinary. The tourism object that is now one of the icons of Banda Aceh City is the Aceh Tsunami Museum.

The Aceh Tsunami Museum is a museum built by the Aceh Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency. Not only magnificent, and a museum designed by the mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil has a unique design, and diverse functions. In addition to being a monument to commemorate the tsunami, the museum also functions as an educational tour and escape building if in the future the tsunami happens again.
Geographically, the Aceh Tsunami Museum is located on Jalan Sultan Iskandar Muda, Baiturrahman District, Banda Aceh City, Aceh. The location of the museum is also very strategic, located in the heart of Banda Aceh, which is only 500 meters from Baiturrahman Great Mosque. Tourists can use public transportation in Banda Aceh, or also private vehicles to visit the museum.

Not only has historical value and remembers the tsunami disaster, the Aceh Tsunami Museum has various philosophies contained in several parts of the museum building. When viewed from the side, the museum will look like a large ship that seems to be a place of rescue. But when viewed from above, this building is designed to reflect tsunami waves.

The museum that became the pride of the Acehnese people was built in 2007 on an area of ​​10,000 square meters. In the construction process, a contest was held to design the Aceh Tsunami Museum. Ridwan Kamil, who was then a lecturer in Architecture at ITB, managed to get rid of dozens of other contestants and was entitled to a prize worth Rp. 100 million.

The museum, which has a building area of ​​2,500 square meters, costs Rp. 140 billion in construction. In 2009, the construction process was completed and was inaugurated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhono, but only opened to the public on May 8, 2011.

When viewed from outside the Aceh Tsunami Museum building looks very grand, decorated with ornaments that symbolize saman dance. The outer wall design itself has a philosophy of the relationship between humans and Islam. Many know that the basic design of this museum adopts Rumoh Aceh.

Travelers can see it on the first floor of the building, which is designed similar to a stilt house. The Aceh Tsunami Museum itself has 4 floors, each of which has a different function, and philosophy. When entering the museum, tourists must pass through an aisle known as the Space of Fear.

This hallway has a length of 30 meters and a height of 23 meters, which describes the height of the tsunami waves at that time. Both sides of the wall were drained by water, and the passageway was made quite narrow, with dim lights that reflected the panic and fear of the people of Aceh when the tsunami occurred.

After going through the passage, tourists will be taken to Space of Memory or also called Memorial Hall. The room contained in the Aceh Tsunami Museum, tourists can see photos and images displayed on the monitor. These pictures and photographs show how powerful the tsunami that devastated the Veranda of Mecca at that time. Visitors seem to be brought back to the past, and remember about the events that hit Aceh.

Furthermore, tourists will enter Space of Sorrow or also known as The Light of God. The room is shaped like a chimney, has a height of about 30 meters and on the wall is the name of the people who were victims of the Aceh tsunami. Inside this room is quite dark, and there is a calligraphy in the form of God's writing, as well as a splash of light that highlights it.

This room contains a variety of philosophies and meanings and has religious value regarding human relations with God. In addition, this room also describes the people of Aceh who were praying for help from the Almighty at that time. Furthermore, at the Aceh Tsunami Museum, tourists will be taken to the Space of Confuse.

In the Space of Confuse room, it depicts the confusion, panic and despair felt by people at that time. It can be seen from the design of the room that is shaped winding, twisting, dark and uneven. After passing this room, tourists will be taken to go to Space of Hope or the bridge of hope.

On this bridge of hope, tourists can see 53 country flags located on the ceiling of the Aceh Tsunami Museum and the stones in the poolside just below the bridge. On the flag and stone, the word Peace is written in the language of each country. This is a form of gratitude, to countries that have provided assistance in the post-tsunami reconstruction and recovery process.

After passing the bridge, tourists will be treated to a short film that tells of the tsunami and post-tsunami. Travelers can also see artifacts and miniatures. Like the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque clock which fell and died during an earthquake, and a miniature of people who ran past when they saw tsunami waves as high as coconut trees.

At the Aceh Tsunami Museum, it has quite complete facilities, consisting of public facilities for tourists and learning media about disasters. Dimuseum has available facilities such as men's and women's toilets, large parking lots, musholla on the 3rd floor, and souvenir shops that sell various knick knacks such as Acehnese t-shirts etc.

On the 3rd floor, the Aceh Tsunami Museum is also equipped with a geological room and library. In this geological space, tourists will get knowledge about hate presented with modern simulation tools. Like the history and potential of tsunamis on earth, simulating the eruption of volcanoes, earthquake simulations that can be determined on the richter scale and 4-dimensional simulations of earthquake and tsunami events.

On the final floor, which is on the 4th floor the museum has a function as a place of rescue when a tsunami occurs in the future. But tourists are not included in, because this space is not open to the public. Only if an emergency occurs, the space will be opened. In addition, the museum can also try a variety of typical Acehnese snacks such as sugar pull, seetet kuet, and keukarah.

After seeing the splendor and beauty of the Aceh Tsunami Museum, tourists can go around Banda Aceh for a culinary tour. Because around this museum there are a lot of Acehnese specialties that are tempting. If you want to stay overnight, visitors can also choose hotels and inns in the center of Banda Aceh.

Visiting the museum which is the pride of the people of Aceh is indeed very interesting and worth a try. Here are some activities that you can do while in the Aceh Tsunami Museum.

If you visit the Aceh Tsunami Museum, then you will be brought back to the past as if feeling a disaster that had struck the Veranda of Mecca in 2004. This museum does have a very interesting, and informative design. The meaning and philosophy contained in the museum, can be conveyed well through the design of existing spaces in the museum.

This Dimuseum you will be taken to a room like Space of Fear, The Light of God, Bridge of hope, Memorial Hall, and many more. In addition, you can also see photographs, artifacts, and miniatures that illustrate how devastating the tsunami disaster was when it hit Aceh and the surrounding area.

Not only brought to commemorate the tsunami, you can also get valuable learning when visiting the Aceh Tsunami Museum. Indeed, one of the goals of the construction of this museum is to educate the public about disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

If you want to increase knowledge about disaster, you can go to the 3rd floor of the museum. Here there is a lot of information about disasters that are nicely packaged, through modern displays and simulations. You can also go to the museum library, which contains books about disasters.

Many tourists visit the Aceh Tsunami Museum, as well as hunting photos. In this museum, you will be presented with lots of interesting objects that you can take. One of the interesting spots that is often used to take pictures is the Hope Bridge, as well as the pond containing many fish below it.

In addition, you can also capture miniature museums, as well as historic artifacts during the tsunami. Not a few tourists take a selfie in this museum. Because of the beauty of the museum, this place is also often used to take prewedding photos. If you have a drone, you can also capture the grandeur of the museum from the air.


To enter this museum, tourists are not charged or free. The museum is open to the public every day from 09.00 - 16.30 WIB.