"Seven-Up Man" Monument
August 31st 1977: The monuments in Jakarta, many of which are built on roundabouts, are usually called by local names, and are most often referred to as a way of giving directions. Many of the locals don’t actually know what the monument is supposed to depict. The Statue of Dirgantara (Father of the Heavens Monument) is one such example, known mostly as The “Seven-up Man” Monument, simply because of it’s shape. It’s name is virtually a synonym for the Pancoran sub-district of South Jakarta.
Dirgantara is an Indonesian aerospace company with core competence in aircraft design, development and manufacturing of civilian and military regional commuter aircraft. Since being established in 1976, the company has successfully exploited its ability in manufacturing and has diversified its product not only in the field of aircraft but also in other areas such as Information Technology, Automotive, Maritime, Simulation Technology, Industrial Turbine, and Engineering Services.
Created by Yogyakartan artist, Edhi Sunarso, the 38-meter monument depicts a muscular human with the head of a monkey, and with one hand reaching to the sky. The legendary figure portrayed is Hanuman, the monkey god from the Ramayana epic, whose supernatural powers enabled him to fly. This ability was taken to symbolise the power of the Indonesian Air Force to conquer the skies. Hanuman is also a symbol of goodness, courage and intelligence. A miniature Russian MIG fighter plane originally sat on the tip of the statue’s finger, but has been recently removed.
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Posted by Craig Hill | March 15, 2012, 13:58Interesting, and I learned something new today. Good article.
Posted by mulrickillion | March 17, 2012, 19:23Part of my new series. Doing an article each day on old pictures I have taken in my travels.
Posted by Craig Hill | March 17, 2012, 20:08