Erfgoed Delft

In 1842 the Dutch state established a royal academy for engineers and colonial civil servants, the Koninklijke Academie voor Ingenieurs en Indische Ambtenaren. Its purpose was to educate and prepare civil servants for service in the colonial government.
In 1864 this academy was replaced by an educational institute, the Indische Instelling, which specialised in Indonesian languages, geography and ethnology.
Students attended lessons in diverse Indonesian languages (Malay, Javanese and Sundanese) and in history, ethnology, law and land surveying.
This institute also cooperated closely with the Delft Polytechnic School.

Exhibits for learning
For lessons in geography and ethnology, lecturers would use Indonesian artefacts sent back to Holland by colonial civil servants. These objects formed the basis of the present museum collection. Following the World’s Fairs of Paris (1878) and Amsterdam (1883), the Dutch state donated a large number of its exhibits. Among these were model houses, weapons, transportation devices and ships.
Since 1900 the collection has been continuously added to by gifts from private individuals.