Welcoming faces: Various masks on display at Bentara Budaya Jakarta on Dec
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About 500 ancient masks from many regions across Indonesia are being displayed at the Sonobudoyo Museum in Yogyakarta from Nov. 20 to 29.
The event, called The Power of Topeng (The Power of the Mask), presents 400 masks that are simulacrums of statues from all over the country and the other masks that are from the collection of the Sonobudoyo Museum.
The curator of the event, I Wayan Dana, said that based on Indonesian history, masks not only functioned as works of art, but also as instruments of religious rituals.
'The two functions strengthen the mask's position as having strong roots in Indonesian cultures,' he said when speaking at the event's opening ceremony on Thursday night.
In religious rituals, he said, masks were used as instruments to communicate with supernatural powers, while their shapes were adjusted to the traditions in each era. He added that the masks also developed side by side with the changes of kingdoms in this archipelago.
Van Heekeren, the author of Prehistoric Life of Indonesia, published in 1955, noted that masks had been parts of Indonesian prehistory thousands of years ago. The Mask of Panji, which developed during the Majapahit Kingdom, for example, told a love story in the era.
Other examples are the Ramayana Mask, which was developed during the Indonesian Hindu kingdoms, and the Ngayogyakarta Palace Mask that was made during the era of Mas Hamengkubuwono VII.
The head of Yogyakarta Culture Agency, Umat Priyono, expressed his appreciation to the organizers of the event with the hope that it would widen people's understanding of the development of masks as a cultural product in Indonesia. (bbn)
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