Museum Kata Andrea Hirata
Belitung's first literary museum, designed by Andrea Hirata himself. Its facade is full of bright colors, and its walls are covered with thousands of quotes from his novels in dozens of languages.
From the outside, this museum looks like a festival. Its paint is red, yellow, blue, green, all bright colors not afraid to sit next to each other. Banners with quotes line the yard. Andrea Hirata designed it this way on purpose. He said life is hard, but it still deserves to be celebrated with color and words.
Step inside. Thousands of lines from his novels cover the walls in Indonesian, English, German, Japanese, Arabic, and many more. There are original handwritten manuscripts, photos from his research trips to England and Europe, and a small library where you can sit and read. In the center of the room, a tree-shaped installation with small papers carrying visitors' dreams. This is not a stiff, serious museum. It is a place that celebrates one simple idea: that words can come from anywhere, including a nearly collapsing wooden school in East Belitung, and go everywhere.