Miniature Buddhist temple model pulls crowd

Large number of citizens show up at exhibition to witness similarities between Pakistan and Indonesia

ISLAMABAD:

A miniature model of Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, built by a Pakistani craftsman, remained a center of attraction among the visitors on the 3rd day of the Lok Virsa art exhibition.

The Indonesian embassy and Lok Virsa jointly organised an art exhibition featuring a collection of photographs and videos, shedding light on inter-regional connectivity and cross-cultural influence on both countries.

The residents of the twin cities swarmed to the exhibition to experience the rich cultural heritage and tradition of both Pakistan and Indonesia.

Maheen Mirza, a student from National Defense University, told APP that she was pretty amazed to find several cultural similarities. "I was unaware of the similarities between culture, history, and religion of these two countries before visiting the exhibition," she mentioned.

Irsa Bin Mairaj, a foreign visitor, who was keenly observing the temple model, said he was amazed to know that the miniature was made by a Pakistani craftsman. It reflected that Pakistani people have great potential in artwork as they could create the model with such perfection, he remarked.

Hooriya Shiekh another visitor was taking photos while draping the Indonesian Batik at the display booths “Sindhi Ajrak and Batik” termed both the crafts an excellent example of the fusion of the two cultures. She hoped that the exhibition besides introducing the similarities of cultures between the two countries would ultimately bring the people closer to each other.

An Indonesian woman who held the stalls of Batik explained the difficult process of Batik making and said it was a technique in which wax-resist dyeing was applied to the entire cloth, it originated from the island of Java which take at least 4-5 days to finish a single piece. "The technique is similar to the famous Sindhi Ajrak and signifies cultural affinity between Indonesia and Pakistan," she added.

When contacted, the Director of the National Heritage Museum Anwar-ul-Haq said that the arrival of hundreds of people at the exhibition showed that life was coming back to normalcy after facing restrictions of Covid-19.

He extended his gratitude to the Indonesian embassy for conducting such a remarkable event for the dwellers of the twin cities. The show titled, "A Night at Lok Virsa Museum: The Confluence of Civilizations between Indonesia and Pakistan was inaugurated by the Indonesian Ambassador Adam Tugio amid the presence of diplomats and art and history lovers. The show will continue till July 24.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2022.