Golden Artifact Hunters
For three years now, a burglary ring has targeted museums. In Yogyakarta thieves broke a window at the Sonobudoyo Museum, disabled the CCTV system and nabbed gold artifacts from the ancient Mataram period. A similar incident occurred at the National Museum in Jakarta. In Bali, pratimasacred gold itemswere stolen from temples. The gold artifacts' financial value is not very high. Many are plates with lettered inscriptions which still remained undeciphered. This has given rise to the suspicion that there is a mystical element to those objectswhich might have drawn the interest of people dealing in stolen goods. Just how important are the gold relics from ancient Mataram shrines for collectors? Tempo reports from Yogyakarta, Bali, and Jakarta.
November 26, 2013
The old National Museum building in Central Jakarta has been closed for two months now. Visitors can only view ancient relics in the new building, which is located to the right of the complex, in this institution affectionately known as the 'Elephant House', referring to the statue of a white elephant in the front entrance. The collection here is not as complete as the one in the old building. The most interesting objects are inscriptions from an
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