Balaputradeva Museum is one of the so-called State Museums of Indonesia, representing each province in Indonesia. Construction of the museum started in 1978 and the building was inaugurated on 5 November 1984. The decision to name it "Balaputradeva" is based on the 9th century Indian sovereign Balaputra who was recorded in an inscription discovered in Nalanda, India. The Nalanda inscription mentions his connection with the building of a Buddhist monastery under his sponsorship. The second mention of his name is found in a 9th-century Javanese inscription which relates his defeat in Java to Rakai Pikatan, a ruler of the Sanjaya dynasty, which prompted Balaputra to leave Java to settle in what is now Palembang, South Sumatra.
Collection
Balaputradeva Museum houses traditional crafts and artifacts discovered in the Province of South Sumatra, from the prehistoric era to the Dutch colonial period. The collection is showcased in three main exhibition rooms described below. Balaputradeva State Museum is one of the three local public collections of Sriwijayan artifacts, the other is the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Museum and the Sriwijaya Kingdom Archaeological Park.
Megalith section
The megalithic culture in South Sumatra was centered in the highlands of Pagaralam, in the Barisan Mountains on the west side of South Sumatra. In the highlands, 22 megalithic culture sites were discovered. Some examples of artifacts displayed in this section are megalithic statues of a mother carrying a child; statues of people riding a buffalo; and statues of men coiled by snake.
Sriwijaya section
The Sriwijaya section contains items related to the Srivijaya, the Malay Buddhist kingdom centered in the city of Palembang. Artifacts found in this room are pottery crafts, beads, metal cast objects, and inscriptions. Most of the inscriptions are replicas, the originals are mostly housed in the National Museum in Jakarta or in the Sriwijaya Kingdom Archaeological Park. Examples of the inscription replicas displayed in the Balaputradeva Museum are the 7th centuryKedukan Bukit, Telaga Batu, Kota Kapur, Talang Tuwo, Boom Baru, Kambang Unglen I, Kambang Unglen II, and the Siddhayatra inscriptions. This section also displays Hindu-Buddhist statues from the period.
This section features relics from the 18th-century Palembang Sultanate period e.g. songket looms and clothes. Among the most notable songket in the collection is the six-meter songket cloth with Naga Besaung motifs. Other collections displayed include Palembang wooden carvings e.g. couches, chairs, and doors in traditional carvings. The courtyard features a traditional Palembang's rumah limas and South Sumatran rumah ulu.
