Sleman (15/11/2023) – The Department of Archeology and the Archeology Student Association of Gadjah Mada University (HIMA) held a collaborative exhibition entitled Sagara Amarta in the series of the VI Archeology Festival with the theme of the Austronesian journey. The Sagara Amarta exhibition is located at the Soegondo Hall, 1st Floor, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University (FIB-UGM).

“At the Sagara Amarta exhibition stand at this year’s VI Archeology Festival, we from HIMA collaborated with several creative product business actors belonging to tourist villages around Borobudur Temple,” said HIMA Chair, Nurul Athifah, at Selamat Hall Soegondo, Wednesday 15 November 2023.

Nurul Athifah added that creative products belonging to tourist villages uphold local wisdom values. Apart from creative products from tourist villages around Borobudur Temple, creative products from UGM Archeology students were also displayed. The Sagara Amarta Exhibition also featured the UGM Majapahit Mandala. Apart from that, there are also culinary stands and photobooths.

“This event is free entry from 10 to 5 pm,” concluded Nurul Athifah.

Meanwhile, the collaborating parties were students’ creative product circles, one of whom was Mandira Brick, all of whom, Ahmad Zaki, said that the aim of participating in this exhibition was to introduce Mandira Brick products as student work. The Mandira Brick product itself is in the form of dismantling miniature temples like Lego, but using the interlock system in the temple.

“Mandira Brick has a mission to educate and introduce the preservation of cultural heritage, architectural art and temple construction techniques in Indonesia,” stressed Zaki.

Archaeological Festival VI: Sagara Amarta Exhibition on 15-17 November 2023 at the 1st Floor of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University (FIB-UGM) held in collaboration with the Department of Archeology and the Archeology Student Association of Gadjah Mada University (HIMA) in collaboration with Borobudur Village Exotica , Pasek, Kahitz, Mandira Brick, Botak Shoes Cleaner (BSC), and Cuci Motor Mas Boy, sponsored by RH Dental Clinic (RDH), Jogja Agrapana Water Filter, and Sekar Tanjung Dance Studio.

Credit by Aditya Revianur, S.Hum., M.Hum.

The Second Regional Championship (Kejurda) of the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Yogyakarta Special Region took place on Tuesday (3/10) and was officially closed on Saturday afternoon (7/10). The closing ceremony took place at the Sports Hall (GOR) of Universitas Mercu Buana (UMBY), Bantul Regency. On this occasion, one of Mahadayas also contributed the winning trophy in the Classic Chess and Rapid Chess sports. It was Aulia Rachmi Kurnia, a student of the Indonesian Language and Literature Study Programme, Faculty of Arts UGM.

Congratulations to Aulia!

Students of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) from various faculties have created a miniature temple model toy that can be played with being arranged one by one using the interlock system found in the miniature stones as found in the original ancient temple. The miniature model was named “Mandira Brick, ” a sacred building built with an array of stones.

The Mandira Brick PKM-K team was accompanied by Fahmi Prihantoro, S.S., M.A. The PKM-K team is a collaboration team from various cross-disciplines, namely Archaeology, Geodesy Engineering, and Banking at Universitas Gadjah Mada. Chaired by Ahmad Zaki, the Mandira Brick PKM-K Team consists of Krista Satya Nugraha (Archaeology 2021), Putri Zelda Prabaswari (Archaeology 2021), Muhammad Zaki Ramadhan (Banking 2021), and Muhammad Farrell Wardhana (Geodesy Engineering 2021).

The background of the idea is that there are still many misconceptions by the public regarding the construction of ancient temples in Indonesia, misunderstood information in the form of myths that are widely believed by the public regarding the construction of temples in ancient times such as temple stones that were glued together using egg whites, temple construction carried out by spirits, and so on. In fact, the temple buildings were built with a stone arrangement with a hook system (Interlock) by the ancestors of the Indonesian Nation.

Concerned by these problems, the UGM PKM-K Mandira Brick Team developed a miniature temple model product of the Ancient Javanese era that adopts a hook system as the original temple, Mandira Brick has three main points in its product, namely education on cultural heritage preservation, education on temple construction systems, and education on temple architectural art. A Mandira Brick product will consist of a baseplate, miniature temple stones, and adhesive glue.

Currently, Mandira Brick has three product variations that have a price range of 185,000 for Ratu Boko Arch, Rp190,000 for Banyunibo Temple, and 190,000 for Sukuh Temple. The temples are taken with the aim of popularising temples that are less well-known but have beauty, tourist attraction, and historical significance that is not inferior to well-known temples such as Prambanan Temple and Borobudur Temple.

In December 2022, Kapalasastra as one of the semi-autonomous bodies (BSO) in the field of nature lovers has successfully conducted basic education for its new members. A series of basic education activities (diksar) carried out include understanding and basic practices of rock climbing, caving, rafting, and mountain-forest. In accordance with the principle of kinship owned by Kapalasastra for generations, all activities were carried out without any element of violence or yelling.

In January, the mountain-forest diksar took place on the slopes of Mount Ungaran and was held for five days. In this activity, teaching was given about the practice of Map and Compass Field Science (IMPK), Emergency First Aid (PPGD), Search and Rescue (SAR), and training survival skills. In the following month, a rafting or swift current sports course (ORAD) was organised. The Elo River was the chosen place with the calculation of the river’s moderate safety level and moderate rainfall as well.

The next agenda was rock climbing in March. Rock climbing was held on the cliffs of Siung Beach. Not only the material space and climbing practice, participants were also introduced to the shapes of corals that form the layers of the cliff. They were given the opportunity to walk around the cliffs and observe the morphology of each side of the cliff.

Finally, a caving course was held in Purworejo. There are two forms of caves that must be explored, namely vertical and horizontal caves. The horizontal cave chosen was Sikantong Cave. This cave has a track length of 1.5 KM and has a river flowing in it. Furthermore, the vertical cave chosen is Sibodak Cave. This cave has a depth of about 25 metres. Participants learnt and observed stalactites and stalagmites, the structure of the cave, the biota in it, and the science of cave photography. The whole series of diksar was then closed with an inauguration at Parangkusumo Beach as well as running a beach clean agenda.

In October this year 2023, Kapalasastra again held the basic education. The hope is that this basic education is able to provide learning and good practices to get to know nature more closely, become a forum for channeling talent interests, and alleviate the negative image of nature lovers. Kapalasastra; love nature, love life, without forgetting the greatness of God!