Indonesia Catalogus

Title	Indonesia - (Catalogus)
Subtitle	De ontdekking van het verleden
Category	History
Author	Endang Sri Hardiatri, Pieter ter Keurs
Publisher	KIT Publishers, Amsterdam
Published	2005
Language	Dutch
ISBN-ASIN	9789068324976 - (9068324942 - english version)

Summary

The Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam presents the exhibition 'Indonesia: the discovery of the past' from 17 December 2005 to 17 April 2006. The exhibition is composed of more than 300 top pieces from the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta and the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. On display are six large statues from the Singasari period (13th century); important gold finds and palace treasures from Sulawesi, Lombok, Bali and unique ethnographica from West and East Indonesia, including New Guinea. The exhibition contains much material that has never been exhibited before. Attention is also paid to the recently discovered Wonoboyo gold treasure.

The exhibition presents the history of the collection and distribution of Indonesian heritage, brought together by the Bataviaasch Genootschap. The collection of this society has grown through scientific and military expeditions, passions of individual collectors such as governors and missionaries and gifts from e.g. princes and sultans to the Dutch royal family or Indian administrators. The collection includes (gold) jewellery, budhas, statues, krisses and wajang puppets. From 1822 onwards, the official policy was to divide collections between two institutes: the Museum Nasional in Jakarta and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden. This is the first time that the collections are being brought together again, first in an exhibition in Jakarta (opened in August) and then in De Nieuwe Kerk.

A total of 330 objects are being presented, 160 from Indonesia and 170 from the Netherlands, both of an archaeological and anthropological nature. The RMV and the MNI possess the two largest and most beautiful collections of Indonesian cultural heritage in the world. In this exhibition, the collections are being brought together for the first time. After the shared colonial past, in which the collection was brought together but also divided between the two museums, the exhibition now emphasises the new equal cooperation and cohesion between Indonesia and the Netherlands. The exhibition 'Indonesia: the discovery of the past' will be accompanied by a catalogue in Dutch, English and Indonesian.