First of six museum exhibitions starts soon

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration plans to hold the first of a series of exhibitions at six museums next month to promote Jakarta's treasures.

The head of the city's museums and renovation agency, Haswidi A. Taufik, said over the weekend the exhibitions were part of a campaign to promote museums as tourist spots.

The first exhibition will be a two-month display of ancient ceramics, including some of Chinese origin, from the Majapahit Kingdom in Trowulan, East Java.

It will be called the Majapahit Ceramics exhibition and will be held at West Jakarta's Museum Keramik on Jl. Taman Fatahillah starting Sept. 25.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja will open the exhibition which will include a workshop and discussions on Indonesian ceramics.

"Visitors can ask the attending experts for tips, for instance, on how to buy ceramics and learn about their history," said Husen Muhammad, head of the ceramics display organizers.

On the same day, a cafe built on the museum's right wing will be opened.

Taufik said the Kafe Museum would feature colonial architecture and its construction would not damage the existing building.

"The cafe will serve both Indonesian and European cuisine and entertain the guests with keroncong traditional music and chamber music as well," said Linaras Oceani, the director of the cafe's developer, PT Markindo Citra Pesona.

A painting exhibition will open on the same day at Seni Rupa museum on Jl. Taman Fatahillah.

The exhibition, called From Mooi Indie to Persagi Era, will display collections by famous artists like S. Sudjojono, S. Abdullah, Agus Djaya and G.A. Sukirno.

Persagi is the Indonesian Painting Expert Artist Association.

The exhibition will run until Dec. 24.

Puppets, ships

Two other exhibitions, one on wayang (puppets) and one on traditional boats, will be held in October.

The month-long puppet exhibition, which starts Oct. 26 at West Jakarta's Museum Wayang on Jl. Pintu Besar Utara, will show a wide range of puppets from Indonesia, Asia and Europe.

The month-long History of Indonesian Vessels exhibition will be held at North Jakarta's Museum Bahari on Jl. Pasar Ikan and start on Oct. 28.

"We'll display Indonesia's traditional ships, such as the Phinisi schooner, Kora-Kora and Lancang Kuning boats," said Hutagalung, head of the exhibition's organizers.

An exhibition on traditional Betawi silver jewelry will be held at Museum Sejarah on Jl. Taman Fatahillah.

"The exhibition will be held next month but we haven't yet received any fixed dates," Taufik said.

"It'll be a hard work because we have a limited amount of money. We rely heavily on the city budget and private contributors to organize the events," Taufik said.

Besides the above programs, the city museum agency will launch a new book shop and publishing house called PT Museum Buku late next month.

"The book collection will later be displayed at Museum Sejarah, where we also plan to set up a library and an online service," said Abdurrachman, the museum's head.

Among the collection will be books on art, travel guides, Jakarta's history and old books, in Indonesian and English.

"The idea is to make it an international museum shop and, hopefully, we can complete the plan by the end of next year," he said. (07)