Handicrafts gallery opened

JAKARTA (JP): Looking for a means that could drive you to heaven?

No, it has nothing to do with drugs.

Just spend your weekend taking a look around the newly opened Bursa Seni art gallery on the sixth floor of Blok M Plaza in South Jakarta.

The 2,000-square-meter gallery, currently home to 35 traders, is offering a wide range of traditional Indonesian handicrafts, including beds of the ancient kings of East Timor.

"To the region's locals, the horses carved into each tip of the beds are considered a means of transportation to heaven," said Gunawan, an executive of the gallery.

Bursa Seni is run by PT Pakuwon Subentra Anggreini, which also owns the seven-story shopping plaza.

According to Stefanus Ridwan, a Pakuwon executive, the gallery is designed to provide proper spaces for local handicraft traders which in turn can lure tourists.

The traders, he said, were not required to pay rental fees but had to share their revenues with Pakuwon.

The gallery, opened Thursday by South Jakarta Mayor Pardjoko, is still waiting for more traders, Ridwan said.

Prices of items at Bursa Seni range from Rp 4,000 to Rp 75 million.

Several foreign envoys, including Polish Ambassador Ksawery Burski, were seen attending Thursday's opening ceremony.

Gunawan said none of the traditional items offered in the gallery were national treasures or prohibited by law from being sold.

The East Timor beds and religious statues, for example, were submitted by their owners through ritual ceremonies, he said.

He said some of the ancient statues were obtained from caves.

"It's very difficult for us to get the items for commercial purposes. But if we act carefully, we can assure the locals that we are not trying to hurt their interests," Gunawan said. (ivy)