Some 100 out of about 200 cultural heritage buildings and sites in Surakarta, Central Java, have been left unmaintained and are in states of serious disrepair according to the city'€™s expert cultural heritage team (TACB).

The team has revealed that most of the locations are privately owned, including city icons in the compounds of Pura Mangkunegaran, Surakarta Kasunanan Palace, Surakarta Grand Mosque and several buildings in Laweyan batik area.

'€œWe are currently documenting [the damaged buildings and sites], including how many there are and how serious the damage is,'€ a member of the team, Kanjeng Gusti Pangeran Haryo Dipokusumo, said on Wednesday.

Once documenting is finished, the team plans to reevaluate the labeling of the places, included reviewing their historical, archeological and architectural values, as well as their ages.

'€œWe have conducted a labeling review before but there are some things that need to be reevaluated,'€ Dipokusumo said, adding that the team found that 170 buildings and sites had never actually been labelled by heritage experts.

He said a study was needed to find out if the locations on the list had been categorized in proper accordance with cultural heritage criteria.

If the team found that the cultural heritage label had been given to buildings or sites that did not meet the required criteria, the label would be annulled.

Quoting Law No. 11/2010 on cultural heritage, Dipokusumo said that the label depended on criteria relating to historical, archeological and architectural value, as well as age.

Dipokusumo said the team aimed to finish the review within a year. '€œBut, it'€™s also possible that the review will take an unlimited period of time because cultural heritage objects are always being discovered,'€ said the son of Sultan Paku Buwono (PB) XII of the Surakarta Kasunanan Palace.

Separately, historical building observer Heri Priyatmoko said that the Surakarta administration, which was led by now President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo from 2005 to 2012, had to pay more attention to cultural heritage buildings and sites, especially after it received an award in 2015 for its cultural heritage preservation from the Culture and Education Ministry.

'€œDon'€™t let the award become merely an irony because many cultural heritage objects are damaged and poorly maintained in the city,'€ Heri said.

Head of the Surakarta Spatial Planning Agency Agus Djoko Witiarso admitted that there were indeed many damaged heritage buildings and sites, but said they mostly belonged to individuals and were not under the management of the city administration or other government institutions.

He said most of the damage was due to old age and expensive maintenance costs. '€œThe [heritage] labeling is partly aimed at providing maintenance expense incentives to the owners of the buildings and sites.'€

He added that the city administration was still at the stage of saving heritage buildings and sites just by giving them labels as such. Other maintenance incentives are apparently to be discussed later.

Agus also said that some cultural heritage buildings that were city icons had been undergoing restoration. Among them were the Surakarta Grand Mosque and some buildings in Pura Mangkunegaran compound.

'€œThe restoration of Pura Mangkunegaran even includes the revitalization and rearrangement of the surrounding area,'€ said Agus, adding that the project was expected to be completed by 2018.

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