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US gives funds for historical building restoration
Preserving heritage: US Ambassador Robert Blake (center right) and Presidential Advisor Meutia Hatta (center) visit Tjong A Fie Mansion in Medan, North Sumatra, Tuesday
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span class="inline inline-center">Preserving heritage: US Ambassador Robert Blake (center right) and Presidential Advisor Meutia Hatta (center) visit Tjong A Fie Mansion in Medan, North Sumatra, Tuesday. The American government has granted US$109,000 under the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation to restore the historic building. JP/Apriadi Gunawan
The US government has awarded a grant under the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) worth US$109,132 for the restoration of the Tjong A Fie Mansion heritage building in Medan, North Sumatra.
US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Blake said the restoration project for the Tjong A Fie Mansion was completed in July.
'The funds were used to improve the building's roof,' Blake said during the launch of the restored mansion on Tuesday.
He said the US government had chosen the Tjong A Fie Mansion as a recipient for the grant because the building was a reminder of Medan city history, which represented tolerance and cultural diversity.
He hoped the grant would inspire the private sector and the public to participate in the preservation of cultural artifacts in Indonesia.
Tjong A Fie Mansion's executive director, Fon Prawira, who is also a grandson of Tjong A Fie, expressed his gratitude to the US government for the grant, saying that it was not easy for the family to secure the money.
'There were many requirements to meet. I had to work hard to complete all of them. Thank God the hard work was fruitful,' Fon told The Jakarta Post.
Fon said that the Tjong A Fie Mansion had never received funds from the Indonesian government, although the building was declared a part of cultural heritage by the Education and Culture Ministry in 2012. The AFCP grant, he said, was the first financial support received to preserve the building.
He said he requested $500,000 to fully restore the 3,000-square-meter mansion. Since they only secured around one-fifth of the funds, they could only restore some 700 square meters of the building.
'Hopefully this grant will open the door for others to help preserve this historical building,' Fon said.
Tjong A Fie was a generous businessman of Chinese descent who died in Medan on Feb. 4, 1921. He built the Tjong A Fie Mansion from 1895 to 1900. In 2014, the mansion was listed among the top 10 landmarks and tourist attractions in Indonesia, as issued by the TripAdvisor site. It has a blend of ancient Chinese, Dutch and Malay architectural influences.
Blake said the US government had been conducting the AFCP grant competition for the preservation of cultural sites, objects or other forms of traditional cultural expressions since 2001.
The competition, he said, was open to 100 developing countries. Within the last 14 years, the funds channeled through the program had amounted to $54 million for 864 projects.
The fund for the Tjong A Fie Mansion marked the ninth project in Indonesia that received funding from the AFCP.
Other projects in the country are manuscript preservation training for the Surakarta and Yogyakarta palaces (2001), preservation of Indonesia's cultural heritage collections (2002), restoration of early 19th century buildings in Surakarta Palace (2003), preservation of Tanjung Tanah's 14th century manuscripts (2004) and restoration of the 19th century Omo Hada houses on Nias Island (2005). North Sumatra Deputy Governor T. Ery Nuradi and Medan Mayor Dzulmi Eldin both said that they would help restore the Tjong A Fie Mansion.
