Yogyakarta Sultanate Digitalize Old Manuscripts

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Yogyakarta Sultanate stated that Yogya King Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X has established cooperation with the British Library in London to digitalize old scriptures of the Yogyakarta Sultanate which were previously lost during the era of the colonial government.

"Currently, there are 75 old manuscripts that have been returned by the British Library to the Sultanate in digital form," said the Hamengku Buwono X daughter and Head of the Yogyakarta Sultanate Culture Division GKR Bendoro on Friday, February 8, 2019.

The manuscripts will be collected and archived in a digital library dedicated to store old manuscripts to make it accessible to the general public.

Bendoro said that one of the important manuscripts which was lost is a manuscript containing stories about the leadership of Hamengku Bowono I. Later, the manuscript was successfully tracked and founded at the British Library.

Bendoro however, did not provide any detail on the number of the old manuscripts currently being traced to be returned.

Bendoro explained that the cooperation with the British Library can mark the success of the efforts made to repossess old manuscripts scattered in foreign countries such as the Netherlands, England, and other countries.

Bendoro said that currently, there are 600 old manuscripts stored in the Yogyakarta Sultanate. As many as 400 of the manuscripts contain information about the government, and the other 200 contain information on art.

Bendoro added that not all of the manuscripts can be accessed by the public. Some manuscripts contain secret information that can only be accessed by members of the Sultanate.

PRIBADI WICAKSONO (CONTRIBUTOR)