A miniature model of Borobudur, the biggest Buddhist temple in the world, remained a major attraction among the visitors on the 3rd day of the exhibition at Lok Virsa on Friday.
The people from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad were flocked to the exhibition showing rich cultural heritage and tradition with similarities between Pakistan and Indonesia.
The event was jointly organized by the Indonesian embassy and Lok Virsa, featuring a collection of photographs and videos shedding light on inter-regional connectivity and cross-cultural influence on both countries.
Maheen Mirza a student from National Defense University told APP that she was quite amazed to find many cultural similarities with the Pakistani art pieces and cultural depictions.
“I was unaware of the similarities between culture, history and religion between the 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 that can scale up the design of such a difficult model with perfection, he remarked.
Hooriya Shiekh another visitor taking photos while draping the Indonesian Batik at the display booths Sindhi Ajrak and Batik termed both the crafts an excellent example of 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.
An Indonesian woman who holds the stalls of Batik explained the difficult process of Batik making and said it was a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth, originated from the island of Java which took at least 4-5 days to finish a single piece.
“The technique shows similarity with famous Sindhi Ajrak and signifies cultural affinity between Indonesia and Pakistan,” she added.
While contacted Director National Heritage Museum Anwar-Ul-Haq said 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 Indonesian Ambassador Adam Tugio amid the presence of diplomats and art and history lovers. The show will continue till July 24.
