NTB accelerates preservation of thousands of ancient manuscripts

Mataram (ANTARA) - The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Provincial Culture Office is accelerating the digitization of thousands of ancient manuscripts to strengthen the preservation and utilization of regional cultural heritage to prevent extinction.

Head of the NTB Culture Office, Muhamad Ihwan, stated that the step aligns with the NTB Provincial Government's vision to protect and utilize local cultural treasures.

"Digitizing ancient manuscripts is part of our vision and mission to preserve and protect data, especially cultural treasures," Ihwan said when met in Mataram on Thursday.

Ihwan emphasized that digitization serves not only as an effort to store and protect ancient manuscripts but also as a means of digital transformation so that manuscript collections can be utilized by the public.

According to him, the digitized products of NTB's manuscript collections can be introduced to the global community, which aligns with the regional development vision of "Prosperous and Global."

"Prosperous means (the potential of the manuscripts) can be utilized, while 'Global' means that through digitalization, ancient manuscript treasures can be explored and enjoyed by the global community," Ihwan said.

The National Library estimates that there are 5,113 ancient manuscripts in NTB, making it one of the provinces with the largest manuscript collections in Indonesia.

The NTB Museum only houses around 1,200 ancient manuscripts; only 16.67 percent, or 200, have been digitized. Around 4,000 ancient manuscripts are still circulating among the public.

The NTB Cultural Office is encouraging the National Library to take an outreach approach by directly contacting ancient manuscript owners in various regions of NTB.

The outreach strategy aims to ensure that the preservation, documentation, and digitization process can reach a wider range of ancient manuscript collections currently held by the public.

Head of the NTB Museum, Ahmad Nuralam, stated that the oldest ancient manuscript housed at the museum is a Quran written on daluang paper in the 19th century. The manuscript of the Islamic holy book has not yet been digitized.

He hopes the NTB Museum will receive assistance with digitization equipment or media transfer so it can carry out the digitization process independently.

"We have cameras and scanners, but they are not very good. Manuscript digitization equipment requires large pixels to prevent image blur when zooming in, as reading manuscripts is more difficult than reading written on paper," Nuralam said.

From June 22-25, 2026, the National Library digitized 51 ancient manuscripts owned by the NTB Museum, bringing the total number of digital manuscripts from 149 to 200.

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Translator: Sugiharto Purnama, Cindy Frishanti Octavia

Editor: Azis Kurmala

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