Tales of two batik museums in Yogyakarta

By Tedy Novan and LN Idayanie

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Among issues discussed at the International Conference on Culture and Tourism (ICCT) here last November was the lack of a fitting batik museum, a huge irony in the most famed home of the textile.

A privately owned batik museum in Yogyakarta is in a poor state, its business frayed by dearth of funds and few visitors.

Fortunately, a museum living up to requirements opened during the ICCT conference.

Ullen Sentanu Museum is in Boyong village in the tourist destination of Kaliurang, 25 kilometers north of here. Its extraordinary collection includes ancient batiks worn by kings of Yogyakarta and Surakarta palaces and members of nobility.

"We focus on batik from the two palaces," museum owner Daud Haryono, 35, said proudly. Many items in the collection are hundreds of years old.

Four buildings cover 1.5 hectares of the complex's 2.5 hectares. Forestry blankets the other hectare, a visual complement to the mountainous terrain.

Each building has its own name. Kampang Kambang contains artifacts and material ranging from ancient scripts -- telling of the moods associated with batik-making -- to old items.

Another, Sasono Tjokrokusumo, contains six epigraphs about batik. These tell that the process originates from palace traditions, is part of ritual paraphernalia and also used for daily wear. The open-plan building is stocked with books on Javanese culture, particularly those about batik's place.

The other two, Goa Selogiri and Sasono Parangkusumo, are built underground. The tree-lined, winding road heading toward these buildings is lined by stone walls.

There is a spooky eeriness about Goa Selogiri, and its walls are adorned with pictures of Javanese nobility in batik.

Sasono Parangkusumo has the same ominous feeling. The smells of flowers and incense give a mystical aura to the corridors. Painting reproductions of photos of palace nobility also hang on its walls.

Aside from these buildings, the complex also has the resting places of the sultan of the Yogyakarta palace, Pakualam VIII, the king of the Surakarta palace and Mangkunegoro palace. The walls of the building are lined with paintings of the rulers and other members of the royal families in batik.

The collection includes the kebaya Javanese attire of Hartini Sukarno, one of the wives of former president Sukarno. There is also a work by a Dutch photographer of a Javanese woman, naked to the waist, with her lower half covered by batik.

The Ullen Sentanu Museum has 150 pieces of old batik, with the oldest dating back to the 1930s. Another 400 were produced after that era, but not all are on exhibit.

Daud said the museum did not have all the items cataloged.

"As a museum, we are responsible for the information that comes with the collections," said Daud, who is also a batik businessman.

He said the information regarding moods in batik-making was significant as it gave insight into the process.

"The museum is a medium of education and socialization for the young generation," he said.

It is easier to obtain old batik than information about it, according to Daud, who said he had good connections in the palaces. But many of the batik owners know little about the history of their pieces, and Daud said he sometimes had to become an investigator to track the facts down.

"I once hunted down an 80-year-old grandmother who could give me sufficient information about a particular type of old batik."

From these sources, he can gather diverse information on the makings of a piece of old batik, including finding out who its owners were.

Daud has also held a batik workshop and conducted a Javanese performance on the grounds of the museum to increase public interest.

"I don not want the museum to just be an exhibition hall. If it was only that alone, it would die eventually."

Financially, the museum is in good hands. The Uleting Blencong Foundation which runs it is funded by the Yogyakarta and Surakarta nobility and private donations.

Poor

The other museum, the Yogyakarta Batik Museum, located on Jl. Sutomo Yogyakarta, is another story altogether.

Operating since May 25 last year, it is already encountering difficult conditions. People would probably be disbelieving that the old green building -- no different from surrounding stores -- is actually a museum if not for the plaque designating it as such.

Its collection includes textiles from the 1880s and 1890s. Among them are wraps with motifs of horse-drawn carriages and Dutch colonial troops. Designed by Dutch women living in the colony, they are among the oldest pieces in the museum. More recent items date from the 1950s through to the 1970s.

The exhibition room is similar to a long corridor. There are old batik cloths, several dippers for applying wax, batik dyes and other equipment.

A larger room is used to exhibit the oldest pieces.

But lack of funds has hampered the proper running of the museum.

Owner Dewi Hadi Nugroho said funding the most basic services was difficult. The government contributes Rp 50,000 a month, but that is not even enough to pay the salary of a museum guard.

The local office of the Ministry of Education and Culture had helped out with a one-time donation of Rp 1 million.

But Dewi does not want to sell her collection. Foreign tourists have offered her Rp 10 million for piece, but she said she had always said no.

"We do need the money, but we will not sell the museum's collection," said Dewi, a granddaughter of Lie Djing Kiem, one of the famous batik designers during the rule of Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII in Yogyakarta.

Few see the textiles. An average of five people, usually foreigners, visit the museum each month, paying an entry fee of Rp 2,000.

The mother of three has opened a flower shop to defray costs from running the museum. Her love of batik has kept the museum open and she is not .

"We were ready for this from the beginning," she said. "Whatever the outcome, this museum will not be closed."