Temple aeen as never before with new lighting design

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Magelang

From Wednesday night onward people will be able to enjoy the beauty of Borobudur temple in Magelang, Central Java, thanks to night lighting that helps reveal the details of the world's great heritage sites.

The new facility was inaugurated by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab on behalf of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who canceled his trip due to a crucial Cabinet meeting on new economic policies to cope with the recent rupiah devaluation.

The inauguration was marked by a ballet performance Mahakarya Borobudur.

American lighting designer Robert Daniels prepared the new US$45,000 installation with the financial support of U.S. electronics giant General Electric (GE).

"Under the lights, it (the temple) looks much more beautiful. You'll see more details of both the carvings and the statues," says Robert Daniels, who has been in the specialist lighting business for 12 years and has won numerous international awards for his projects.

Borobudur, according to Daniels, is very unique as it has so many carvings and statues on it. It, therefore, needs lights that work in different ways to create a three-dimensional effect and shape to the temple.

"I decided to use photographic techniques. It's like when you go to a photo studio, you are able to have many lights and the lights make the shapes come out. Light can indeed create three- dimensional shapes," says Daniels, who is also a photographer.

Unlike the sun that produces a horizontal shadow, Daniels' lights come at the temple from all sides. The lights, however, do not point directly at the temple in order to produce a three- dimensional effect.

"I put lights on each side of the four little entrance ways and they should go across to the opposite side," he says.

For the new design, Daniels had to readjust the existing poles to generate the desired effects, including the "crossfire lights".

He also installed larger poles, which stand some 80 feet high each on the four corners of the temple to fire the very narrow beams of light that hit only the top of the temple. Another important part of Daniels' work is the light beam control that separates the upper and lower lights.

"We're basically working with two colors on the temple. The white one on the top, or the stupa, and the yellowish one on the lower parts, or the first six steps of the temple," says Daniels.

Both the crossfire technique that he has specially created for Borobudur and the light beam control, according to Daniels, are what make this new design completely different from the old one that was installed in 2003, also with the financial support of GE.

"The system we are using now is much more sophisticated, much more complicated. Everything has to be aimed very specially and perfectly. The light control is much more emphasized so that the very narrow beams of light that we're using can go exactly where we want them to," Daniels says.

The new design also is an energy efficient system, according to Daniels, yet the lights are four times brighter than the old lamps.

Operational director of PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan, and Ratu Boko temple management company, Guntur Purnomoadi, however, said they would not turn the lights on every night.

"Due to the operational costs, we will only light it up on special occasions or for special requests. So, what you have to do if you want to enjoy the beautiful view of the temple under the light is just call us," Guntur asserted, but declined to reveal how much he would charge for the service.

"It's all still under calculation."