Reviving the lost heritage: Batik cultural route in the Indonesian spice route perspective

Abstract

Known as a spice producer country, Indonesia possesses a wondrous history of spice routes. Some intricate patterns of woven textile and the wax-resist dyeing Batik textile, as the evolutionary textile arts across centuries, describe the story of spice and its importance for the local community in many spice regions. This paper identifies Indonesian cultural routes with strong history spice cultivation, characterized by the presence of their textile heritage. This study provides an in-depth analysis on the context of developing Indonesian sustainable cultural routes, by considering the valorization of textile heritage and spice culture as the element of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in the direction of sustainable tourism and heritage preservation. The creation of digital technologies, cultural hubs of textile and culinary, as well as thematic tourism, offers on spice routes are discussed, all in the framework of addressing the overarching community goals and the sustainable rural tourism development.