The founder of Kekayon Puppet Museum is Soejono Prawirohadikusumo. The museum’s inspiration was obtained during a study in Gronigen, the Netherlands in 1966-1967. At that time a director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam stated that it was sinful that in Yogyakarta not having a puppet museum and establishing a private museum was not a rich or rich matter, but a matter of motivation, perseverance and patience.

A concrete example is an amtenar in Purworejo armed with extraordinary perseverance that can have a very large and valuable collection; later presented to the National Museum in Jakarta. The Amtenar is not a billionaire, he is just an ordinary employee. But for decades he bought collections from the rest of his salary. His success in collecting is thanks to perseverance, patience, motivation, and the length of the year.

Thus the director’s remark inspired the founder to create a puppet museum in Yogyakarta. After a long period of time, a quarter of a century later Kekayon Puppet Museum was finally established and was inaugurated by the Governor of Yogyakarta at that time, Paku Alam VIII on January 5, 1990. The museum began operating fully 1.5 years later.