Cultural heritage buildings in a number of cities in Indonesia must be preserved because they have served as long-time witnesses to the progress of the cities and their dwellers, and are icons of national solidarity, identity and pride.
This was one of various suggestions raised at the fourth meeting of Asia-Europe Culture Ministers in Poznan, Poland, on Sept. 9-10, 2010.
Junus Satrio Atmodjo, director of cultural heritage at Indonesia’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, who participated in the meeting, said at least 8,000 heritage buildings and sites have been registered in Indonesia.
The buildings are classified into several groups, including pre-historic era, Hindu-Buddha, Islam, colonial period and modern era. Many of the buildings still function according to their original design, such as several railway stations in central Jakarta.
“If we add to those other heritages like statues, the number would jump to tens or even hundreds of thousands,” Junus said as quoted by Kompas.com on Saturday.
He said many historical sites in Indonesia had been declared by Unesco as world heritages, including the Sangiran archeological site, Borobudur Temple and Prambanan Temple.
Indonesia, he continued, had the highest number and highest number of types of cultural heritages in Southeast Asia. “For Asia, China possibly is the biggest,” Junus added.
