As part of the Australia-Indonesia Museums (AIM) Project, an online workshop on the significance museum approach was held on the 31 of March 2022. The workshop brought together twenty (20) participants from thirteen (13) museums from across Aceh, West Sumatra and North Sumatra. The online workshop was hosted by the Aceh Museum.
Andrew Henderson, SEAMS, presented the Significance 2.0: A Guide to Assessing the Significance of Cultural Heritage Objects and Collections. Nusi Lisabilla Estudiantin from the National Museum of Indonesia (NMI) presented a case study on how the significance approach has been used on a collection of Acehnese bracelets from the NMI collection. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia supported the preparation and implementation of the event.
The workshop included a group work component where participants applied the significance method directly to five objects from the Ache Museum collection, and then presented the results of the assessment in the final session of the training.
The objects included:
Rencong Meupucok: a type of Acehnese traditional sword, Rencong, which on the handle there is an end which is usually made of gold.
Cakra Donya Bell: a bell originated from the warship of Sultan Iskandar Muda named "Cakra Donya" and was a gift from Admiral Cheng Ho during his visit to the archipelago in 1414 AD.
Golden Plates Decoration of Sultan Iskandar Thani Tomb: Some gold plates in the shape of flowers and leaves, functioned as decorations for Sultan Iskandar Thani's coffin which was found by the national archaeological research center team in 1977 at Kandang Gunongan, Banda Aceh.
Kupiah Meukeutob: In the past this Acehnese traditional kupiah (male headdress) could only be worn by kings or traditional heads but is now commonly worn by Acehnese men on traditional events.
Rumoh Aceh: a traditional Acehnese house built by F.W. Stemmeshaus in 1914 to take part in the colonial festival (De colonialle teenstooling) in Semarang, and then transported to Aceh and became the first building of the Aceh Museum.
The AIM Project is made possible through grant funding from the Australia-Indonesia Institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia. #aimproject #australia# indonesia #museumworkshops