The Nias Heritage Museum (Museum Pusaka Nias) in Gunungsitoli is the best introduction to Nias Island's remarkable megalithic culture. The collection includes traditional stone ancestor figures (adu zatua), carved wooden throne-chairs used by village chiefs (osa-osa), war shields and weapons, traditional jewellery, and documentary photographs of traditional village life from the early 20th century.
The museum building itself is a reconstruction of a traditional Nias chief's house — an elevated structure on wooden pillars with a distinctive curved roof — which is architecturally notable in its own right. The Nias traditional house design, with its earthquake-resistant construction on flexible wooden pilings, has been studied by architects and engineers interested in vernacular seismic resilience. The museum is run by the Salesian Catholic mission and has been collecting and preserving Nias material culture since the colonial era. A modest entrance fee applies.