The museum was formerly a cemetery, built by the Dutch colonial government in 1795 as a final resting place for noble Dutchmen.

Several important person that was buried in the cemetery area are Olivia Mariamne Raffles – the first wife of British governor general Thomas Stamford Raffles - and Indonesian youth activist Soe Hok Gie.

The cemetery was built to accommodate the increasing number of death that was caused by an outbreak of disease in Batavia.

[2] Kebon Jahe Kober cemetery is located close to the river Kali Krukut.

At a request from the local government, some corpses were removed by relatives while others were taken to Tanah Kusir cemetery in South Jakarta.

[2] The cemetery was officially inaugurated as Taman Prasasti Museum on July 9, 1977 by Ali Sadikin, former governor of Jakarta.