Royal families set to enliven regal festival
Sita W. Dewi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Tue, December 03 2013, 1:36 PM
Members of royal families from across the archipelago, as well as representatives from various royal establishments in 11 countries will descend on Jakarta this weekend for the World Royal Heritage Festival 2013.
“This is the first festival of its kind in the world. Royal representatives from 11 countries; Japan, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, UK, Portugal, South Africa, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, will be participating in the event,” Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said during a press briefing at City Hall on Tuesday.
The World Royal Heritage Festival, slated for Dec. 5-8, will feature 165 palaces from across the country, 10 foreign palaces, 300 royal carts, 1,000 cultural performances, an exhibition, a culinary festival and various workshops.
The festival will be centered at the National Monument (Monas) compound in Central Jakarta.
At 3 p.m. on Sunday royal family members and representatives, as well as the governor, will join a cultural parade on royal carts around Monas.
Visitors who wish to see royal artifacts may visit the exhibition in Monas’ diorama room from Thursday-Sunday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., while the royal culinary festival will be held on the west side of Plaza Monas on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“Our archipelago was made of hundreds of keratons [palaces] before it became the Republic of Indonesia and our presence and contribution is still relevant in this modern day as we preserve tradition and local wisdom,” KPH Adipati Joyonagoro of Purabumi Joyonagoro in Kendal, Central Java, said.
do 5 dec 2013 - 10:44