Museums open joint exhibition

YOGYAKARTA: The director general of culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Edi Sedyawati, officially opened a joint exhibition of 25 local museums at the Benteng Museum of Yogyakarta yesterday.

"I hope such a joint-exhibition will help unite the museums' visions and steps in improving their activities, especially in giving information to the public," Sedyawati said in her speech.

The exhibition is divided into four segments referring to Indonesian historical periods, and displays artifacts ranging from skeleton replicas from the prehistoric age to paintings of the contemporary Indonesian artist, Affandi.

The ten-day exhibition is part of the Pekan Temu Budaya 1997 (1997 Week of Cultural Meetings) marking the end of Indonesia's cultural improvement decade (1988-1997).

Yogyakarta, with 27 museums, ranks second only to Jakarta as having the most museums in Indonesia. (swa/09)