Discussions about opening a Multatuli Museum in Rangkasbitung began in the 2010s, with the support of
Bonnie Triyana, a historian with roots in the area, as well as teacher Ubaidilah Muchtar, architect Bambang Eryudhawan, and
Tempo journalist Kurie Suditomo.
Multatuli, whose real name was Edward Douwes Dekker, was a Dutch colonial official who was Assistant
Resident in Lebak for a brief period in 1856 before he clashed with his superiors and returned to Europe. It is located in a 1923 building off Rangkasbitung Square that had originally been the office of the (a type of colonial official). The museum attempts to incorporate the sensory experience of export products such as coffee to immerse the visitor in the nineteenth-century plantation economy portrayed by Multatuli, as well as examining colonial history and the publication of Multatuli's novel. The museum also contains sculptures of Multatuli and characters from the novel by sculptor
Dolorosa Sinaga. The museum was forced to close during the
COVID-19 pandemic and reopened in early 2022. ==References==