New lease on life sought for graveyard<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
It's certainly a graveyard but is it a museum or a monument?
\nCould it, perhaps, be a memorial park?<\/p>\n
Whatever name you give it, experts have agreed that Museum
\nTaman Prasasti (Museum of Inscriptions), one of Jakarta's
\nheritage sites, needs an urgent facelift to preserve its cultural
\nvalue.<\/p>\n
Historians, architects and archeologists, who met in a
\nThursday seminar on the planned development of the old graveyard,
\nmade several recommendations to the city's museum agency,
\nincluding creating a new name for the site that would suit it
\nbetter.<\/p>\n
"We feel that the name Museum Kerkhof Kebon Jahe (Kebon Jahe
\nMemorial Museum) would fit better as it is a memorial site that
\nhas been made into a museum," panel chairwoman Karina Arifin told
\nthe seminar.<\/p>\n
The new name included the museum's location, Kebon Jahe in
\nCentral Jakarta, while the word kerkhof was Dutch for graveyard,
\nKarina said.<\/p>\n
The panel also suggested a competition in which architects and
\ndesigners could vie to create the best restoration design. The
\nwinning design would have to protect the gravestones in the area
\nand develop the museum as an educational and recreational
\nconservation site, she said.<\/p>\n
The museum, located beside the Central Jakarta municipality
\noffice in Jl. Abdul Muis, has seen better days. It has gone
\nthrough several restorations since the first in 1977, when the
\n5.5-hectare Dutch graveyard was turned into a museum.<\/p>\n
At that time, the city administration chose 32 gravestones it
\nconsidered the most important, and placed them onto freestanding
\ncolumns that many people consider ugly.<\/p>\n
The graveyard later shrunk to only 1.3 hectares, after the
\ncity built its office on the site, incorporating many of the
\ngravestones into the walls of the complex.<\/p>\n
"Many of the restoration phases in the past were done
\ncarelessly," architect Danang Priatmodjo said. "(The site) needs
\ncareful handling in the future."<\/p>\n
Conservation architects Arya Abieta and Budi Lim suggested
\nthat an initial study on the structure, materials and historical
\nvalue of the site should be made before a design was developed.<\/p>\n
"We should avoid conserving the site just to make it a tourist
\nattraction," Budi said.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the site's front portico partially
\ncollapsed, one of its doric columns is now on a dangerous lean
\nand many of its 1,300 carved gravestones are either dirty or
\nbroken.<\/p>\n
Few people visit the complex due to its disrepair, despite it
\ncontaining Dutch tombs from as early as 1799 and numerous
\nelaborately carved headstones from many eras, including
\nimpressive art deco tombs. Aside from the graves of Dutch and
\nBritish colonials, the museum also stores the coffins of former
\npresident Soekarno, vice president Muhammad Hatta, as well as the
\ngraves of student activist Soe Hok Gie and entertainer Miss
\nRiboet.<\/p>\n
A local museum official said the site now saw only 40 visitors
\na month. Visitors were often unaware of it because of the thick
\nwall enclosure that surrounded the complex, he said.<\/p>\n
A proposed design from the City Park Agency has suggested the
\nwalls be taken down and replaced with iron fences that would
\nenable people to see through.<\/p>\n
However, seminar participants criticized the agency's design,
\nwhich they said would need further studies. (003)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/new-lease-on-life-sought-for-graveyard-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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