The Gilingan Keris

[A. G. Maisey]

At the Gilingan intersection in Solo, Jawa.

[JustYS]

Hi Alan,

I hope you enjoy your time in Solo.

What’s your opinion about this Keris statue?

From what I read from Indonesian newspaper, there are many people from Solo keris society who are not happy with this statue.

They said that this is more like a keris like object than a real keris since it is outside the “pakem”. For example the dhapur is not like any known dhapur.

Cheers,

Yohan

[A. G. Maisey]

I have no opinion Yohan, it is something that somebody thought was a good idea, whether it is or is not, it is not my place to comment. It is none of my business.

[Jean]

From which materials is it made? Impressive but too showy for my taste...
Regards :)

[A. G. Maisey]

It don't know what it made from Jean, I assume a steel frame, covered with concrete, and then copper skin over the concrete.

My personal approach to this thing is that it is civic monument intended to remind people of the iconic position of the keris in their society. I do not believe that we should try to appraise it and hold the fact that it is only reminiscent of a keris against it. To 99.9% of the people passing by who view this, it is a keris, it strikes a chord in their cultural memory, and I guess does pretty much what it was intended to do.

Yes, it could have had a bit more time put into design, but would the end result on the ordinary people be any different? I doubt it.

What struck me the first time I saw it was the way it dominates that intersection. It is very, very big. Much bigger in real life than it looks in the photo.

[Bjorn]

My personal approach to this thing is that it is civic monument intended to remind people of the iconic position of the keris in their society. I do not believe that we should try to appraise it and hold the fact that it is only reminiscent of a keris against it. To 99.9% of the people passing by who view this, it is a keris, it strikes a chord in their cultural memory, and I guess does pretty much what it was intended to do.

Couldn't agree more. It's representative of an idea and a concept. It's not the actual thing, so there's no need for it to be 100% accurate. People look at it and they can recognize what it represents. Mission achieved.