The finding of temples in December last year in the compound of Indonesian Islamic University (UII) is a good news for archeologists. But the temple’s location right on the construction site of the university’s library has created a new problem related to the use of the site by UII.
This fact has encouraged three students of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) to develop the temple management that is more humanistic. The students are Ari Hendra Lukmana (Archeology 2007), Ghifari Yuristiadhi (History 2007), and Qolbiyati Muthmainah (Architectural Engineering 2005). “This paper was inspired by the finding of the temple that has been named Pustakasala Temple. This was unique as this was the first to take place in Indonesian Archeology,” Ari said on campus.
It is known that most of the temples were found in an open space distant from residential areas or public places. The location of this temple in the middle of public places has caused a polemic.
The three classmates were trying to offer a solution to manage the temple by giving a humanistic touch to the temple. “Humanisation means management that emphasises on the temple desacralisation so that it can blend with other buildings in its surroundings. For instance, a temple found among a densely populated area does not necessarily mean that we have to evict the houses nearby. Adjustments can be done in line with the structure of the temple,” Ari from Magelang explained.
They designed the library that is integrated with the Pustakasala Temple by building the library structures in the South and North of the temple. A bridge over the temple is built to connect the structures. “The bridge enables students in the libary to see and interact with the temple,” Qolbiyati Muthmainah, architect in the team, said.
Qolbi added that the library that had previously be designed to be a modern construction has now been adjusted to the temple in terms of the materials used, namely natural rocks.
Qolbi mentioned that the design was made to give more access for the communities to interact with the temple. “Formerly, temples were identified by the perimeter walls and were distant from the nearby communities. This minimised the people’s interaction with the themple, and the temple became marginalised,” said the girl born in Klaten on 27 November 1987. The low level of interaction has strengthened the eery image of the temple. Humanistic touch is expected to get rid of that image. “Temple humanisation is expected to help remove the eery and non-humanistic image that is often related to temples or other archeological sites,” she said. The concept of temple humanisation has brought the three UGM students to win the gold medal in the National Student Scientific Week 2010 (PIMNAS 2010) in Bali in Juli.