This is the place to go for all things Merapi. The building is being restored at the moment, and the film (from what I gathered) is only available to big groups. But the exhibitions are worth a look.

Mt Merapi's height is 2,900 metres, and the museum is located at the 800-metre-up mark. Incredible. Firstly, it's hard to believe there can be such a temperature change in a mere 800 metres. Secondly, it's hard to believe that there's another 2,000 metres of mountain to climb from where you stand. (Not that I'm thinking of climbing it, I hasten to add...)

The exhibits at the museum range from the technical (which volcanoes do which kinds of eruptions), through the practical (what to do if you are faced with a pyroclastic flow, or a cold lahar, or a lava flow, or a volcano bomb, or any of the other hazards these geomonsters throw at us), to the poignant (the skeleton of a motorbike that had been rolled over by a hot cloud).

Everything underlines the key fact: Mt. Merapi is an extraordinarily beautiful, but utterly unpredictable neighbour...