Hermes to be replaced with Rp 100m replica

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso has finally approved a plan to replace the statue of the Greek god Hermes with a replica estimated to cost just under Rp 100 million (US$12,000), a city official said on Friday.

Head of the city museum and restoration agency Robert Silalahi said the replica would be crafted by sculptors from Yogyakarta and the Bandung Institute of Technology in West Java.

"We are now negotiating the cost of the construction of the replica. It should be less than Rp 100 million and it will be taken from the city budget," he said.

According to Robert, the original statue will be kept in the Jakarta History Museum, where it has been kept since its controversial disappearance from Harmoni bridge last August.

The governor said that the placement of a replica statue would be less of a temptation to thieves.

The two-meter bronze statue, which used to receive little public attention, became the subject of interest only after it was reported missing on Aug. 20, 1999.

Three days after the report, the public works agency claimed to have found the statue in the Ciliwung river which passes under the Harmoni bridge. The agency then returned the statue to the city parks agency.

The statue and the Harmoni bridge, built during the Dutch colonial period, have been included in the list of protected historic buildings in the capital.

Previously, Deputy Governor for Social Welfare Affairs Djailani opposed the plan to make a replica for the statue on the grounds that it would reduce the value of the original one.

At the Harmoni bridge nowadays, the Central Jakarta administration has placed a sign reading: Sorry, the Hermes statue is under renovation.

Robert could not say when the replica would be completed and when it would be installed at the bridge.

"One reason is the complicated bureaucracy. The other is that we're currently working hard to conserve the statue's broken left leg.

"Probably, more details will be available next week," he said. (ind)