Sleman's The Thousand Temples Festival; Promoting World Heritage

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Thousand Temples Festival (Festival Seribu Candi) is held on July 11 to 13, 2023 in Sleman, Yogyakarta. According to the Department of Culture of Sleman Regency, this festival is an effort to promote Prambanan Temple, one of the World Heritage historic sites.

The festival was inaugurated by the Sleman Regent, Kustini Sri Purnomo, in the Prambanan Temple complex on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. She said that preserving and promoting the temple is a collaborative responsibility. The Thousand Temples Festival is intended to give a significant impact on the development, preservation, and appreciation of Sleman's art and cultural heritage. 

"Hopefully, The Thousand Temples Festival could spark society's awareness to continue loving local culture to realize an honorable cultural generation in the middle of a civilization," she said.

Promoting cultural heritage

The Head of the Department of Culture of Sleman Regency, Edy Winarya, said that this festival is intended to promote intangible cultural heritage in Sleman Regency as set out by Indonesia's Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. "The intangible culture heritage includes Langentoyo performance art, traditional transportation of ox carts, Pedalangan mask shadow-puppets (shadow-puppets are called wayang), Wong Gaya Yogyakarta shadow-puppet show, and keris exhibition (keris are traditional daggers)," he explained. 

Edy said that this festival is in cooperation with the Cultural Preservation Department for Area X, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, and PT Taman Wisata Candi (TWC) Borobudur, Prambanan, and Ratu Boko. "The festival will be held from July 11 through July 13, 2023, starting from 10:00 a.m. until 16:30 p.m. in the Prambanan Temple Complex," he added.

The Thousand Temples Festival will also include a Cultural Appreciation Exhibition through hide shadow-puppets intended for students on July 23, 2023, from 09:00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. performed by Malangrejo Elementary School. "This event is intended to inform the ancient cultural principle of Java as a form to plant honorable values for the young generation and hopefully will affect the way society behaves," Eddy said.

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