US Embassy, Jakarta Textile Museum To Preserve Famous Batik Works

Jakarta (Antara Bali) -- The United States Embassy and the Jakarta Textile Museum have agreed to preserve 25 batik items designed by top Indonesian fashion designer Iwan Tirta, a U. S. diplomat said.

The decision was made as a way to indicate the high appreciation Americans have of traditional Indonesian cultural heritage, the embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Kristen F. Bauer told attendees of a workshop on textile preservation here on Thursday.

Bauer added that the batik clothes were the U. S. Embassy's property and that three of them bore the U. S. state symbol.

Of the 26 items of batik clothing that the United States Embassy in Jakarta had, 25 were preserved at the museum, while the remaining other was still in good condition, she stated.

The agreement to preserve the embassy's batik collection is part of efforts to celebrate the close relationship shared by Indonesia and the United States through culture, Bauer remarked.

The two parties, she further noted, will treat the well-known batik collection of Iwan Tirta to recondition it.

According to the American diplomat, batik, which has been recognized by the UNESCO as an Indonesian cultural heritage, is not a possession of only the two countries, but belongs to everyone who appreciates it," she pointed out.

Iwan Tirta is a popular Indonesian batik and fashion artist, whose works have been published by various world fashion magazines. Tirta's works have even been worn by many world leaders, such as late South African president Nelson Mandela and former U. S. president Ronald Reagan.

Moreover, Bauer said that America was very proud to have Julia M. Brennan as one of the experts involved in the efforts to preserve the 25 batik items at the Jakarta Textile Museum.

However, Curator of the Jakarta Textile Museum Benny Gratha told 15 participants of the workshop, who represented several textile museums in Indonesia, that preserving the batik collection would be a difficult task as five of 25 items in the collection were in a severely damaged state. (WDY)