The Museum Pusaka Nias is the most important stop in Gunungsitoli and one of the best ethnographic museums in all of Sumatra. The collection spans more than 6,000 objects related to Nias cultural heritage: ancestral statues (adu zatua), traditional weapons, jewellery, megalithic stone carvings, and documents from the Dutch colonial period. The wooden ancestor figures range from palm-sized household pieces to towering ceremonial statues over two metres tall, each carved when a family elder died to house their spirit.
Founded by Catholic missionaries who recognised that Nias's material culture was disappearing fast, the museum has grown into the authoritative record of a civilisation that outsiders barely knew existed a century ago. Even a quick visit before heading south will transform what you see in the traditional villages — the stone jumping platforms, the megalithic avenues, the carved facades of the chief's houses all suddenly make sense.