Thousand Temple Festival to Preserve Local Art and Cultural Heritage

The Cultural Office of Sleman Regency, DI Yogyakarta held the Thousand Temples Festival in the Prambanan Temple Tourism Park area. This festival was held thanks to the cooperation between the Cultural Office of Sleman Regency, the Cultural Preservation Center for Region X, PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko and the Industry and Trade Office of Sleman Regency.

The Thousand Temples Festival will be held at the Prambanan Temple Complex from 11 to 13 July 2023, from 10.00:16.30 to XNUMX:XNUMX WIB. The Thousand Temples Festival is an effort to promote the cultural heritage destination of Prambanan Temple, which is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, to the wider community.

In addition, this event is also expected to attract the interest of the wider community to the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta, which has been designated by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.

This festival was opened directly by the Regent of Sleman Kustini Sri Purnomo together with the Head of the Sleman Regency Culture Office Edy Winarya and GM of TWC Prambanan I Gusti Putu Ngurah Sedana, on Tuesday (11/7/2023).

In her speech, Sleman Regent Kustini Sri Purnomo emphasized that cultural wealth is a shared responsibility to maintain and promote it.

Through this activity, the Regent of Sleman hopes to have a significant impact on development, preservation and also increase public appreciation of the arts and cultural heritage in Sleman Regency.

"This festival is expected to raise public awareness to continue to love local culture, so that it can realize a noble character for society and cultural generations in the midst of global civilization," said Kustini.

Head of the Sleman Regency Cultural Service, Edy Winarya, said that this activity also aims to promote intangible cultural heritage in Sleman Regency which has been determined by the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology.

"The intangible cultural heritage includes Langentoyo performing arts, traditional ox cart transportation, Wayang Topeng Pedalangan performing arts, Wayang Wong Gaya Yogyakarta performing arts and keris exhibitions," he explained.

A number of series of events have been prepared by the committee together with a number of community elements, such as art performances from the Husada Jampi Jawi Dance Association, the Langen Toyo Art Association, the Topeng Pedalangan Puppet Association, the Yogyakarta Puppet Association, the Angklung Art Game, and the Makarti Roso Manunggal Association's Ox Cart.

"There is also a Sleman Regency MSME Bazaar, an exhibition from the Tosan Aji Lar Gangsir Keris Community, and a Talk Show by the Regional X Cultural Preservation Center," explained Edy.

Meanwhile, GM TWC Prambanan I Gusti Putu Ngurah Sedana said that more efforts are needed in promoting cultural heritage destinations through organizing side events. This is done to boost tourist visits which have an impact on increasing the economic potential in the surrounding area.

"PT TWC greatly appreciates activities aimed at promoting world cultural heritage to the public. It is our duty and responsibility to inform and promote world cultural heritage related to the important value of the cultural heritage," he explained.

The Thousand Temple Festival is proof of the synergy and collaboration of various parties to support the development of cultural heritage destinations and local arts and cultural heritage so that they can continue to be sustainable and in demand by the wider community.

"This certainly requires synergy and collaboration between stakeholders for activities to promote tourism activities and organize side events to attract tourists. Hopefully this activity can have a positive impact on the progress of tourism in the region," he concluded.