05The story

Living heritage

Batik, wayang & gamelan

Culture in Indonesia lives in people’s hands, not only in museums. Batik is the art of drawing patterns on cloth with wax before dyeing; a single garment can take days of work with a small tool called a canting. Wayang kulit shadow theatre tells epic stories with leather puppets whose silhouettes appear on a screen, moved by a single narrator through the night. Accompanying it is gamelan—an ensemble of bronze bells, drums, and xylophones playing interlocking melodies. All three arts are listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage: wayang in 2008, batik in 2009, and gamelan in 2021. The best place to encounter them is Yogyakarta, the heart of Javanese arts: batik workshops in its neighborhoods, and gamelan and puppet shows at the Kraton palace. For a real keepsake, buy hand-drawn batik directly from the workshops, and ask how it differs from machine-printed cloth—the handmade piece costs more, but it is a unique work of art.

2008

Wayang on the UNESCO list

2009

Batik on the UNESCO list

2021

Gamelan on the UNESCO list