Indonesia Consults France, Netherlands in National Museum Recovery Plan

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology will restore historical collections at the National Museum post-Saturday fire. Acting head of the Public Service Agency for Museums and Cultural Heritage Ahmad Mahendra stated that the National Museum Management Team has communicated with various parties including foreign partners to discuss the issue.

"We have specifically spoken with the France government," Ahmad said in a written statement on Wednesday. The team reached out to France for its experience in recovering Notre Dame after a fire broke out on April 15, 2019.

"We also discussed with the government of Netherlands on various aspects of restoration, specifically regarding cultural heritage building development and collection management," he said. The restoration of the National Museum will indeed go beyond the damaged museum collection, but also the plan for future museum repair. 

The recovery process will involve conservators, archeologists, anthropologists, cultural experts, historical experts, curators, and academicians.

Two days after the fire, the ministry started evacuation, inventory, and data gathering process to assess the damage. Hundreds of historical artifacts were transferred to a temporary storage impending a review to the extend of the damage. 

"Several collections are found almost complete and identified immediately," he said.

Currently, Ahmad added, the team is identifying, analyzing the damage, cleaning, and conducting the initial conservation process.

NOVALI PANJI NUGROHO

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