Friday, November 25, 2011

Yogyakarta Places of Interest


The Sultan’s Palace

Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, the Sultan’s Palace, is located at the southern eng of Jalan Ahmad Yani. The Kraton is the heart of city of Yogya and covers an area of one square kilometer surrounded by a wall. It is in a sense a city within the city, housing some 25,000 residents, many of them artisans producing traditional craft likes batik cloth, silver wares, wayang puppets and masks. Construction of the complex began in 1755, following the devision of the kingdom of Mataram, and continued for nearly forty years. The innermost group of buildings, known as Proboyekso, is still the private resident of the reigning Sultan and his family. Here are kept many ancient pusaka or scared heirlooms. The reception hall, Bangsal Kencana, is a beautiful structure displaying exquisitely carved teak pillars and painted rafters. It was completed in in 1792. A small museum exhibition some of the palace treasures, including gifts from European monarchs. Outside, in the Sri Manganti courtyard, two pendopo , traditional Javanese open sided building , countain four sets of gamelan instruments dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Also on view are gilded palanquins and sedan chairs, as well as an ancient bedug , the drum used to call Muslims to prayer.

On the northern and southern sides of the main palace buildings are large grassy areas known as Alun alun . In the middle of each stand two banyan trees, which are said to ‘guard’ the Kraton. Today, much of kraton is open to public and on Sundays visitors have the opportunity to watch classical dance rehearsals there.