Batik museum preserves Yogyakarta tradition
Batik museum preserves Yogyakarta tradition
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
A new museum and study center inside the Yogyakarta palace
complex is helping to preserve the region's batik tradition by
educating a new generation of people about this important
cultural heritage.
The batik on exhibit in the museum, which was recently opened
by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, was donated by the palace and
members of the public.
Sri Sultan said during the museum opening that it was
important to preserve the art of batik, which he described as
conveying important ethical and aesthetic lessons. He also said
batik was closely associated with life; people are wrapped in
batik when they are born and when they die.
Batik is also an expression of life and man's place in the
universe, as depicted on the gawangan (wooden frame on which
fabric is hung).
The bandul (fabric weight used in the batik-making process)
represents the heart, and the lancing wax is the gem of one's
soul. Each item used in the batik-making process batik equipment
has its own significance.
The 150-square-meter museum contains batik cloth dating back
as far as hundreds of years, as well as new pieces donated by the
palace and the public. The museum also houses batik
paraphernalia, such as canting (small dipper used to apply wax in
the batik process) and different types of wax.
There is a large selection of canting and wax, in all
different sizes and shapes, according to their function.
Kote wax, for instance, functions as a cloth whitener and
protector, tembok wax blocks parts of the design that will be
white later, biron covers the first color applied during the
dying process and gondorukem is used as a mixture in wax to
produce fine etchings.
A piece of batik with a parang barong motif and tassels at its
ends, worn by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII during his
coronation in 1921, is also exhibited at the museum.
Upon entering the building, visitors will be amazed by the
sheer variety of the motifs on display. There are about 60 modern
pieces of batik in various patterns, including parang, cuiri,
truntum, ceplok, sido mukti and sido luhur.
The art of batik has developed over the course of centuries,
since the era of the Hindu and Buddhist empires, as can be seen
in batik motifs in a number of ancient temples, such as the Sewu
and Prambanan temples.
Batik has gone through extraordinary changes over the
centuries, and today batik designs have been incorporated into
hotels, shopping malls and government buildings, and batik has
become part of the national dress.