Ancient past exhibited in mall
June 22nd, 2007
A new exhibition is bringing Buddhist spirituality to that shrine of consumerism, the shopping mall.
Late Saturday night, at Mangga Dua Square in North Jakarta, a group of youngsters whipped out their cell phones cameras and took turns posing in front of a model of Borobudur temple and an unfinished Buddha statue.
“Swell. We don’t have to travel all the way to Yogyakarta,” said 22-year-old Syukri Diwangkara after posing in front of the statue on the mall’s upper ground level.
Several meters away a boy could not take his eyes off a stack of stones that dated back to the 8th century.
Banners hung from the ceiling offered a concise explanation of what was going on: archaeology goes to mall.
For the next seven days starting Sunday, the seemingly distant topic of archaeology will be bridged by the exhibition, “Tracing the Nusantara civilization from the 9th to 12th centuries, Maha Karmawibhangga: The hidden legacy at the foot of Borobudur.”
“We want to bring this topic closer to the public and reveal things that previously remained exclusive to academics,” the Tourism and Culture Ministry’s head of cultural research and development, Junus Satrio Atmodjo, said last week.
The famed Borobudur serves as a lure to bring people in and pique their interest in Indonesia’s ancient past.
The timing of the exhibition was impeccable, with Buddhists commemorating Buddha’s Day of Enlightenment, or Waisak, the Friday before its opening.
Working with the Indonesia Sangha Conference, the ministry is putting on a full week of events as part of the exhibition, including art performances that will highlight the country’s rich cultural past.
In building Borobudur, the ancient civilization of Syailendra was thoughtful enough to provide a temple that would serve as a historical library for future generations.
“Compared to the process of carving the temple, setting up this exhibition this past two months seems like nothing,” said Lenny, the event organizer.
Inside Mangga Dua, event organizers were busy setting up the exhibition.
Statues were placed in the center of the exhibition area, and experts from the National Archaeological Research Center busily put up posters showing 160 panels of the Maha Karmawibhangga relief.
Karmawibhangga, the now hidden relief at the base of Borobudur, consists of a series of panels depicting everyday life in what is now Central Java province the peak of this advanced civilization.
“Unlike other temples concentrating on the royal and divine, Borobudur includes documentation of the larger community, the common people,” archaeologist Sonny C. Wibisono said.
And from that documentation, meticulously carved by craftsmen of the day, event organizers aim at intriguing the modern public with questions like, “If we used to have this advanced culture, what happened?”
The exhibition, “Tracing Nusantara civilization from the 9th to 12th centuries, Maha Karmawibhangga: The hidden legacy at the foot of Borobudur”, will run until Sunday, June 10, at Mangga Dua Square, North Jakarta.
Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Entry Filed under: World Tourism News
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