DREAMSEA
D REAMSEA is a program to preserve Southeast Asian manuscripts and their contents and aims to disclose the immense cultural treasures to the world. Supported by the Arcadia Foundation in the United Kingdom, the program is run by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatulah State Islamic University in Jakarta and the Center for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) of the University of Hamburg.
DREAMSEA preserves endangered manuscripts owned and kept by individuals who live in Southeast Asia. Manuscripts collected by institutions fall beyond the scope of the program. It is important to highlight that many manuscripts are in unfavorable conditions and their future existence is threatened. Because many manuscripts are or will be damaged, their contents may disappear forever.
T he main method used by DREAMSEA is to gather as much information as possible from Southeast Asian societies about the existence of manuscripts. After proper assessment and checking, a DREAMSEA team will digitise the manuscripts to save the literary heritage and safeguard cultural diversity without having to pay high financial costs. The digitised manuscripts will then be made fully and openly accessible online.
We have digitised more than 2.000 manuscripts from Indonesia, Thailand, and Laos. You can trace every missions on the interactive map. Zoom in and out to point the locations, and click the marker to see the detailed informations. The identified manuscripts covered up to 27 languages, 18 scripts and various subject matters which contain very rich cultural diversity.
