KRATON YOGYAKARTA

Kraton or the Palace where Sultan and his family of Yogyakarta live is located in the center of the axis stretching from the north to the south, and in the secondary axis from the east to the west. It is encircled by row of the mountains called the Horizon as the border of the universe.
It lies between Tugu as the north border and Panggung Krapyak as the south border, between Code River in the east and Winongo River in the west; between the Merapi Mountain and the South Sea. In the mind of the Javanese community, kraton is defined as center of the world that is described as center of the universe.
History of the Sultan Palace

After the Giyanti Agreeement, Yogyakarta territory was given to Pangeran Mangkubumi. To run his governance, he built a palace in 1755 in Hutan Beringan area; such a good place flanked by two rivers that protect it from being flooded. The first king of Yogyakarta Palace was Pangeran Mangkubumi with the title Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono I (HB I).
Naming and Meaning of the Lay Out

Karaton, Keraton or Kraton, originates from the word ke-ratu-an that means the place where the queen/king lives. Simple explanation of its broader meaning is that all structures and buildings in the Kraton area have significant meaning related to essential Javanese philosophy of life, namely Sangkan Paraning Dumadi that means the origin and the destination of human being.

In general, the Kraton area stretches 5 kilometers southwards to Krapyak village and 2 kilometers northwards until the Tugu monument. In this imaginary line, there is a reversed dualism linear line that tells symbolical philosophy: the direction from south to north symbolizes the birth of human being from the high place to the perishable world, and the opposite direction symbolizes the return of human being to the Dumadi (God in Javanese philosophy). Kraton is physical symbol and the King is the symbol of the real soul that presents into the physical body.

The direction from the Palace to the Tugu monument represents the road of life that is full of temptations. Beringharjo market symbolizes women temptation and temptation of power is symbolized by Kepatihan building. The straight street connecting the Palace to Tugu monument symbolizes close relationship between human being and the Creator (Sangkan Paraning Dumadi).

In short, Tugu monument is a symbol of lingga (male sex organ) and Krapyak symbolizes yoni (female sex organ) and kraton is physical blend of the two.
The Meaning of Yogyakarta Space Arrangement

Hit by the earthquake in 1867, the Sultan Palace was severely damaged. During the reign of HB VII in 1889, the building was renovated. The lay out being retained, the shape of the building was changed to the current look.

Tugu monument and Manguntur Tangkil hall or Bangsal Kencana (where the king is seated), are straight in a line. This means that while sitting on his throne and looking toward the Tugu monument, he will always remember his people.

In general, the space arrangement of the current Sultan Palace is similar to the one of Mataram Dynasty. The center of the Palace is the so called Bangsal Kencana that is adjacent to Bangsal Prabayeksa as the place to keep sacred weapons (in this room, there is an oil lamp called Kyai Wiji that is kept lit by the Palace servants). This hall is surrounded by Kedhaton yard so that people must go through layers of the yard that seem like waves in order to reach the center.

This special arrangement of the Palace looks similar to constellation of mountain and Jambu Dwipa land that is considered to be central archipelago of the universe.

From north part to west part of the Palace area, there are North Square, North Siti Hinggil, North Kemandhungan, Srimanganti, Kedhaton, Kemagangan, South Kemandungan, South Siti Hinggil and South Square (the yard that is protected by high walls).

In order to reach all of the places, there are nine gates (called regol) that must be passed through, namely: gerbang, pangurukan, tarub agung, brajanala, srimanganti, kamagangan, gadhung mlati, kemandhungan and gading.

Brongtodiningrat sees the significance of this number, as the highest number to describe excellence. This is related to nine holes in human beings, commonly called babahan hawa sanga.

The sacredness of each Palace building is indicated by the frequency and intensity of Sultan activities in the location.

Sultan only visits the Square, Pagelaran, and Siti Hinggil three times a year, namely during the events of Pisowan Ageng Grebeg Maulud, Sawal and Besar and other very special, incidental events such as coronation of the Sultan and the crown prince or Pangeran Adipati Anom.

Yogyakarta Sultan Palace is an old building that was once damaged and restored. In general, it looks like other Kingdom buildings. When we understand the philosophy of them deeper, however, we will understand the symbolical meaning of life philosophy, human nature, how the nature works and human beings live their lives and various symbols of life existence in them.

Writer: R. Syah

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PRAWIROTAMAN

Prawirotaman kampong has many lodgings at affordable prices; most of them are managed by descendents of one clan. This predicated 'international kampong' was once an independence struggler post and a famous batik business area.Prawirotaman, an area located about five kilometers from the center of Yogyakarta city can be an alternative when you find difficulties to get lodgings. There are not only unique lodgings at affordable prices in this area, but also art shops, cafes, book shops, a traditional market, and a stone inscription that can be an alternative tour as well.

Prawirotaman as a kampong began to be known in the ninth century, when a servant of the kingdom named Prawirotomo was granted a piece of land. Since the beginning, this kampong has been playing quite big role for Yogyakarta. In pre-independence era, this kampong functioned as strugglers' concentration point. In the post-independence era, 1960s to be exact, this kampong was famous for its printed batik that was managed by the descendents of Prawirotomo. Since 1970s, however, when batik business began to slack, the descendants of Prawirotomo clan switched their business to lodging services and, hence, Prawirotaman was known as a tourist kampong.

Entering Prawirotaman area, you will be greeted by nuance of the kampong in a city center with vehicles passes to and fro of the street and warm welcome by local inhabitants that most of them at least speak English. A chain of hotels with unique architecture, from classic Java to modern design, is available. The rates are around 50,000 to 300,000 Indonesian Rupiah. Even though there are several hotels of which management have been done by other people, most of the hotels are managed by the descendents of Werdoyoprawiro, Suroprawiro, and Mangunprawiro big families.

The area of Prawirotaman I or usually is called Prawirotaman is the most popular area. In addition to lodging, there are other facilities in this area such as travel agents, internet connection and telecommunication booth, café, restaurant and bookshop. Cafes and restaurants serve both Javanese cuisine and European cuisine or blend of them. The bookshop provides good books at cheaper prices. Imported books that normally cost hundreds thousand can be obtained only at 35,000 to 60,000 Indonesian Rupiah. Sometimes, foreigners exchange their book collection.

Some art shops sell unique, artistic works. There are tables made of bamboo, batik cloth, cupboard made of whole log and antique things such as decoration lamp and old kris. One of saleable antique things is batik mould. This mould is used as decoration, air ventilation or a collection of high historical value. Once, a German bought 1,000 batik moulds from a batik factory that does not operate anymore.

To the south of Prawirotaman I area is Prawirotaman II that directly borders on a traditional market. Walking through the tradition market in the morning is an alternative of an interesting tour. While looking at the busy people who buy daily needs, you can try traditional snacks. If you go further to the south, you will come to Prawirotaman III area. This place mainly functions as a dwelling place of local people.

Even though the real name of the areas to the south of Prawirotaman is Prawirotaman II and Prawirotaman III, the area is known as Jalan Gerilya. According to story, the area was the headquarter of Prajurit Hantu Maut (the Deadly Ghost Soldiers) as the Indonesian independence strugglers lead by Mr. Tulus. At the corner of a street, there is a stone inscription made to commemorate the struggle of the troop. The other troop in the area was Prawirotomo soldier.

You do not have to worry for the transportation for your tour. Some motorcycle and car rentals, even pick up service are available. If you have not set up your itinerary, some travel agents have sufficient reference of interesting tourism objects, ranging from cultural tourism such as temples and Sultan Palace to adventure tourism such as tracking.

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TAMAN PINTAR SCIENCE PARK

Have you ever imagined that there's a parabola that can whisper? Or a wall that can sing? Well, you can find them in the Taman Pintar Science Park, Yogyakarta.In that sunny day, Angga (5) is whispering something into a parabolic dish and put his ear on it. Doni (6), his classmate, is doing the same thing in front of another parabolic dish. Well, they are not trying to talk and to have a conversation with the parabolic dishes. They are playing the Whispering Parabolic Dishes, one of the educating games in the Taman Pintar Science Park. Located in Panembahan Senopati Street 1-3. The Taman Pintar Science Park starts to be one of the favorite theme parks in Yogyakarta. When YogYES visits this park, there are crowds of hundreds kids in front of the park.

Just after we go through the front gate, we will be welcomed by the area called the Playground Arena. The road from the gate is divided into 2 by a corridor made of 3 triangle poles in each side. These poles will spray water and make a water corridor. Unfortunately, they only operate this water alley on special occasions. In the end of the alley, there is a gong with "Gong Perdamaian Nusantara (sarana persaudaraan dan pemersatu bangsa)" written on a ribbon. This sentence means "The Indonesian archipelago bell, the tool of unifying the nation and brotherhood". There are also the logo of all Indonesian provinces and regencies all around the gong.

A variety of interesting and educating games with intriguing names can be found in this Playground Arena. In addition to Water Corridor, there are Whispering Parabolic Dishes, Singing Walls, Storytelling Pipe, Spectrum Color Disc, Dancing Water, Stone Forum, Smart Footprint, My Beautiful Village, Pulley System, Tree House, Shaking Bridge, Seesaw, and Sand Castle.

These games are designed to improve the child's interest in science. The Whispering Parabolic Dishes for example, is when two people standing back to back in front of twin parabolic dishes which are 10 meters away each other. If one person whispers a sentence to the parabolic dish in front of him, the other person will be able to hear it from his parabolic dish. This game teaches about the principle of wave propagation. In this case, the dishes have a function as a conductor to deliver the sound wave to each focus point. Meanwhile, The Singing Wall is a red wall with various size drums on it. These drums produce different tones. This game shows the relation between the size of the drums and the tones they produce.

There are also huge trees and grass gardens complete with a placard with "please do not walk all over me." But unfortunately, either because they did not see the placard or they do not care about it, some parents and adults are actually sitting on the grass and eat some food just like they are on a picnic ground. This Playground Arena is also equipped with a stand that sells drinks and various snacks.
Kid-only Zone

In between the Playground Arena, there is an Early Childhood Education Zone, which is only allowed for 2-7 years old kids. This zone is divided into 2, are: west building and east building.

Because of the age’s requirements, YogYES could not come into those buildings, but from the information boards in front of them, we could see that the west building is divided into the waiting room, the technology and science room, Library, profession Room, and Cultural and Religious Room. Meanwhile, the East Room is divided into Waiting Room, Kids Computer Room, Block Puzzle Room, Karaoke and Performances Room, and Adventure Room
Oval Building

After walking around the Playground Arena, YogYES decided to go into the Oval Room. As we come in, we will get into the lobby with 2 TV screens in the left and right side of the floor that’s display the videos about how the universe formed, pre historic life, etc. From the lobby, we can walk through a short underwater tunnel that get through a fresh water aquarium where we can see various kinds of fishes such as catfish, carp, etc swimming freely.

Coming out of the tunnel, YogYES was surprised by a dinosaurs roaring loudly. That roaring dinosaurs is the greeting for us before going into the Dome Area. Surviving from the dinosaurs, YogYES get into a huge and high circular room. On the edge of this room, there are several booths that demonstrate simple technology tools such as Whims Hurst Machine, Van de Graft generator, water tracks, the map of Indonesia's geography complete with tiny lights that mark the colorful layout mountains, rivers, lakes, etc., automatic fire, flood detector, and the place to take wudhu that automatically on when we step on the floor. We also can see some of pictures and dioramas of prehistoric life in this room.

From that room, we can walk through a swirling corridor to the second floor with pictures of the world figures such as Copernicus, Einstein, etc. as well as posters of the planets in our solar system along the walls. In the second floor of the oval building, we can see videos about the universe and earth, earthquake simulator, tsunami detector and simulator, electrical displays, construction technology, telecommunications zone, and try science around the world zone.

Other than this Oval Building, there is also a square building where we can find a 4-D theater. The park manager also plans to build as Exhibition Hall, Audio Visual Room, Jogja Kid Radio, Souvenir Center, Basic Material and the Application of Science and Technology Zone, Science Laboratory, and Courses Classes.

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GABUSAN ART MARKET

Gabusan Art Market that accommodates 444 craftsmen has been a paradise of handicrafts in Bantul. Facilitated with information center, this market will eventually accommodate 8,015 handicraft units from all parts of Bantul district.

There is another way to enjoy art works of Bantul people without having to wander about villages that produce them, namely by visiting Gabusan Art Market. The market that is located on Jalan Parangtritis km 9 has been the center of handicrafts trading for the last 2 years. Other facilities such as cafeterias, information technology access and groceries are there for you, too.

Gabusan was designed to open access for craftsmen to international market. For the reason, the design of the market accommodating around 444 craftsmen is of international standard. The design of the market was done by both domestic and foreign architects by, of course, accentuating local architecture. Divided into 16 stalls, Gabusan sells handicrafts of various raw materials, ranging from leather, metals, wood, clay to water hyacinth.

Arriving at the area of Gabusan market, you will be greeted by an interestingly designed gate. On the gate, there are restaurant, crossing bridge and ramp. Having your meals in that restaurant, you will be able to see the entire market from the top view. Close to the area, there is a shop as an information center as well as the place for visitors to get their stuff. This shop is designed so artistically that it has its own interest.

Entering the first stall, you will enjoy bag handicraft made from rattan. Neat woven of the bag gives durable image and combination of the cloth and accessories gives meaningful added value. Various unique, elegant designs produce multifunctional bags for multi purposes. Other handicraft that is available in that stall is a box made from woven bamboo. Despite its simple design and function, the box still looks unique in various bright colors.

If you want to buy candle stands for your guest rooms, you will find them in stall eight. Many types of candle stands from different materials are available. There is a candle container forming like a small, brown bowl with string decoration around it. Another candle stand is made from bamboo some part of which sides are split to make stands with string ornaments on them. In addition to functioning as stand for the glowing candle, the beautiful design of it will attract your guests in your guest room.

Still related to home decorations, you will find interesting masks of various designs in stall six. Some leather masks are carved beautifully in enchanting colors. If you like artificial flowers included the vases, you will get them in stall thirteen. The vases are made of wood or clay with special ornaments of the surfaces. Plain vases without ornaments are not less interesting as well.

Small functional items with artistic designs give valuable added value for you and your family. A standard photo frame, for example, is designed so beautifully with special ornament such as dragon. Pencil case is also available in different variations. There is a pencil case in the form of a sitting man with his white hair as the ornament and the pencil holes are in the front part. Many other items are beautifully designed by the people in Bantul area such as tray in various enchanting designs.

The information center will help to find any kinds of product that you can find in the market. Details of products, prices, location of the stall where you are going to put your orders are all available there. Connected to Internet network, this information center indicates that you can put your order on line. Gradually, this market will accommodate 8,015 handicraft units. The earthquake on 27 May 2006 hit this market mildly but it is being recovered now.

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KASONGAN

Close look at ceramic handicrafts making that is done from generation to generation while hunting beautiful hand-made collections produced by skillful craftsmen.In the Dutch colonial time, in one of the areas at the southern part of Yogyakarta there was a shocking and even threatening occurrence with the finding of a dead horse owned by a Dutch detective on a rice field of a villager. Being afraid of punishment, the villager gave up his land ownership and did not acknowledge his land anymore. This was followed by other villagers. This given up land was then possessed by people of other village. Having no more fields to cultivate, the local people ended up with becoming ceramics craftsmen to make toys and kitchen sets until now. This was revealed in an interview by Prof. Gustami at all with local elders in 1980s.

It is that area that we know it as Kasongan until present time; a village in Kajen hamlet that is situated in low mountains with limestone soil. It takes 15-20 minutes drive from the city center.

Kasongan village is the dwelling place of kundis, which means earthenware jugs and later refers to people who make any earthenware jug-like as kitchen tools and ornaments.

"Beginning from our ancestor's habit to knead clay that turns out not to break when it is united, and begin to make some functions for kid toys and kitchen tools. The habit was then descended to current generation," said Giman, one of the workers in Loro Blonyo workshop.

Visiting Kasongan village, the tourists will be welcomed warmly by local inhabitants. They may have a look the showroom crowded with ceramic handicrafts. If they are interested in seeing the ceramics making, tourists can visit some ceramic galleries that produce the special handicrafts at site. The processes are material kneading, shaping, drying that takes 2-4 days and burning before finally being finished using wall paint or roof-tile paint.

Working collectively, a gallery is usually a family business run from generation to the next generation. Even though ceramics making is now involving neighbors of surrounding dwelling place of the gallery owner, the family is still responsible for material selection and production monitoring.
Touch of Modern Design

At the beginning, these ceramics did not have style at all. The legend of the dead horse, however, inspired the craftsmen to create horse motifs on many products, especially the horses carrying earthenware goods or roof-tiles complete with bamboo basket placed on the horseback, in addition to frog, rooster and elephant motifs.

The entering modern influence and culture from outside through various media and the first introduction of Kasongan to public by Sapto Hudoyo around 1971-1972 with artistic and commercial touch and commercially sold in major scale by Sahid Keramik around 1980s enables tourists to see various ceramic motifs. Tourists can even order motifs to their like such as peacock, dragon, rose and others. The types of self production include so many forms. They do not only make kid toys (sounding toys, frog, and money box) and kitchen tools (kuali, pengaron, kendil, dandang, kekep, and others). Entering the gate of Kasongan village, you will see ceramics galleries that sell ornamental items alongside the street. The forms and functions have varied, from small ashtray to flower vase as high as one's shoulder. The ornamental goods either have functions or merely as ornament.
Loro Blonyo Ceramic Statue

One of famous ceramic displays is statue of a couple sitting in polite position. This statue is named Loro Blonyo at the first time by Loro Blonyo gallery owned by Walujo. This statue is adopted from a bridal couple owned by Yogyakarta Kingdom. In Javanese language, Loro means two or a couple, while Blonyo means to be made over through bathing and making up. "The real meaning of Loro Blonyo, however, is still in question among craftsmen in Kasongan," Giman said.

The existing belief of Loro Blonyo statue that brings luck and perpetual family life when located at home, as Giman told YogYES, brings positive impact on the sales of this statue. Some foreigners place order of special statues in certain forms such as dancer, guitar player, models and others. The clothes are not standard Javanese anymore; special clothes of some countries are adopted; statues in Balinese and Thailand clothes are found most. Some ceramic galleries sell this statue in different styles.
Tourism Village

Since the end of the twentieth century, after economy crisis hit Indonesia, tourists may find other products other than earthenware goods. The entering of new comers who open galleries in Kasongan is one of the influences. They sell local products such as handicrafts from coconut tree, dried plants or shellfish. "Business catches up with trend and development, looking at opportunities," Giman adds. Earthenware goods, however, are main means of livelihood of local community. "We have the gift for that; furthermore we have no other skills. Most of us do not finish Senior High School. Only few of them," he adds.

Ceramic handicrafts with various forms and modern as well as artistic motifs and other handicrafts are magnets of Kasongan at present time. Kasongan is a tourism place full of stories and beautiful goods resulted from skillful hands of local community to knead clay.

Two months after the quake, many galleries in Kasongan begin to actively revive although some of them are still in reconstruction stage. By far, there is no more fear of both owners and workers. Local community expects tourists to visit Kasongan as they did before the quake. (YogYES.COM: R. Syah)

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MALIOBORO

Walking through one-kilometer pathway will be so tiring, but the memory of old buildings and souvenirs stories will release it.Stretching on imaginary poles connecting Yogyakarta Sultan Palace, Tugu and the peak of Merapi Mountain, this street forms trading locality after Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono I developed means of trading through traditional market since 1758. After 248 years, the place still persists as a trading area; it even becomes the icon of Yogyakarta, known as Malioboro.

Located around 800 meters from Yogyakarta Sultan Palace, this place was always crowded with flowers each time the Palace held ceremonies. Malioboro that in Sanskrit means bouquet serves as a basis for naming this street.

Framed by shops, offices, restaurants, star hotels and historical buildings, the street that once functioned as struggling center during the second Dutch military aggression in 1948 was once a place of wandering for the artists joining together in Persada Studi Klub (PSK) community led by Umbul Landu Paranggi since 1970s to around the end of 1990s.
Souvenirs Paradise

Enjoying shopping experience, hunting exclusive souvenirs of Jogja, tourists may walk on foot along the arcades of Malioboro Street. There are many vendors selling their merchandises, ranging from such local handicrafts as batik, rattan ornament, leather puppet, bamboo handicrafts (key holder, ornament lamp, and others) as well as blangkon (Javanese / Jogjanese traditional cap) and silver goods to general little things that you may find in other trading places. Along the arcade, tourists will not only enjoy shopping peacefully on sunny or rainy days but they also enjoy bargaining prices. If they are good at bargaining and have good luck, they will end up buying at third quarter or even half of the prices offered.

Do not forget to save energy. There is still one big traditional market tourists must visit. Well known as Pasar Beringharjo, this market provides complete traditional products in addition to similar goods sold along the arcade of Malioboro Street. In addition to local products of Jogja, products from neighboring areas such as Pekalongan batik and Solo batik are available. There are many choices of hand made batik, printed batik, window curtain with unique motifs and batik bed sheet. This place will satisfy the desire of buying unique goods at reasonable price.

Please make sure that you are not cheated by the offered prices. Usually, the vendors will increase the prices for tourists.
Vredeburg Fort and Gedung Agung

At the end of this "bouquet" street, tourists can drop by at Vredeburg Fort that is located across Gedung Agung. This fort was the Dutch protection basis from possible attacks by Yogyakarta Kingdom troops. Similar to other forts, this place built in 1765 is high, square walls confining the area inside with one monitoring tower in each of the four corners for patrolling purpose. From the tower at the southern part, YogYES took the opportunity to enjoy sceneries of the Sultan Palace and other historical buildings.
Malioboro Cross-Legged Food Vendors (Lesehan, Javanese Language)

When the sun sets in the west and at the same time the lights along the street and the arcade add more beauty to Malioboro, food sellers begin to set the cross-legged eating place. Special menu of Jogja such as Gudeg and Pecel Lele are served in addition to oriental cuisines and sea food as well as Padang cuisine of West Sumatra. The street singers will sing hit songs and memory songs for some small change.

For tourists who are going to try menus served along Malioboro Street, please do not hesitate to check the price list and confirm it to the seller to prevent illogical charge.

Visiting Yogyakarta, the city known as "The Javanese Culture Living Museum" will not be complete unless you pay a visit to the street that keeps various stories of Indonesian Nation struggle and crowded with various souvenirs. It is paradise for history lovers and souvenirs hunters. (YogYES.COM: R. Syah)

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TUGU JOGJA

Tugu Jogja or the Jogja Monument becomes the landmark that is closely linked to Yogyakarta. There is a tradition to hug and kiss this monument after finishing the study in a university.Tugu Jogja is the most popular landmark of Yogyakarta. This monument is located right in the center of the crossroad between the Mangkubumi, Soedirman, A.M. Sangaji and Diponegoro roads. The Tugu Jogja that is almost 3 centuries old has a very deep meaning and it keeps some history records of Yogyakarta.

Tugu Jogja was built around one year after the construction of Yogyakarta Kingdom. At the early time of its construction, it clearly described the philosophy of the unity of God's creatures that means the spirit of togetherness of lay people and authorities to fight colonials. In Javanese term, the spirit of togetherness is called golong gilig that is clearly described in the construction of the monument: the pole is of gilig (cylinder) form and the top part is golong (rounded). This monument was known as Tugu Golong-Gilig.

In details, the monument was originally constructed in the form of a cylindrical pole with conical form upwards. The base is an encircling fence while the top is rounded. The preliminary height of the monument was 25 meters.

Everything changed when on Monday, 10 June 1867, a big earthquake in Yogyakarta ruined the monument. The collapse of the monument was the transition time when the unity was not really reflected on the monument.

The situation changed totally when in 1889 the Dutch government renovated the monument. The monument was constructed as a square with each side being decorated with a kind of inscription containing the names of people who were involved in the renovation. The top portion is no longer rounded but a pointed cone. The height of the monument is also lower, namely 15 meters. Since then, this monument was also called as De Witt Paal or Tugu Pal Putih (white pole monument).

The renovation of the monument was actually the tactic used by the Dutch colonial to erase the philosophy of togetherness between lay people and the king. Learning from the result of the struggle afterwards, however, the effort did not seem to be successful.

If we want to look at the monument satisfactorily while remembering its philosophical meaning, there are benches facing the monument on the corner of Mangkubumi Street. At 05:00 a.m. - 06:00 a.m. is the right time since the air is still fresh and not much passerby yet. Occasionally, the newspaper boy will greet us politely while riding his bicycle to go to the distribution office of the biggest local newspaper, the Kedaulatan Rakyat.

In the evening, we find the seller of gudeg (traditional menu cooked from young jackfruit) at the corner of Diponegoro Road. The gudeg sold here is delicious at reasonable price. You may have it in crossed-legs seating arrangement while looking at the view of the Tugu Jogja that is bathed with lights.

Being so identical of the Tugu Jogja to Yogyakarta makes many university students from outside of Yogyakarta to express their happiness after the graduation day by hugging and kissing the Tugu Jogja. That may also express their love to Yogyakarta that they will about to leave soon and at the same time say their promise to return to this city.

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SONOBUDOYO MUSEUM

As many as around 1,200 keris from all parts of Indonesia can be seen in Sonobudoyo Museum. They range from the keris from Yogyakarta, Solo, Madura,to the ones from Kalimantan (it is called Mandau) and Sulawesi or celebes.Visiting Sonobudoyo Museum is an alternative to see keris and other related items to it from all parts of Indonesia. The museum that keeps around 1,200 keris (most of them were donated by Java Institute) will satisfy your curiosity about keris since the Kingdom of Yogkarta that keeps sacred keris does not allow public to see its keris collection.

Sonobudoyo Museum is within easy reach from Yogyakarta Kingdom; it is located across the North Square of Yogyakarta. To get into it, you only have to pay the entrance ticket as much as IDR 3,000. Meanwhile, in order to see various kinds of keris, you have to go through quite long procedures because you have to get permission from the museum chief officer. This is because many of the keris collection are still kept in the collection room; they are not shown to public.

The first thing you will see that is related to keris is wesi budha (Buddha Iron); it is the main material to make keris that was used in around the year 700s AD, or during the triumphant of Hindu Mataram Kingdom. Wesi Budha can be seen in the middle room that also keeps some collections of the triumphant of Buddhism civilization in Indonesia. In addition to the wesi budha, there are various household furnishings, weapons and handicrafts of the same period.

Entering further, you can see some keris, even though the number is relatively small. Some of the exposed keris are straight keris, keris with 7 curves, 11 curves and 13 curves. Most of the keris displayed in this room are those from Jave. In addition to the keris, batik cloths with different patterns are kept there.

Another room behind the library of the museum, displays more types of keris. The museum attendant explained to YogYES that the room keeps various kinds of keris from all parts of Indonesia and it keeps collection of accessories such as pendok of Yogyakarta and Solo and the keris blade . More collection originates from outside of Yogyakarta since there was prohibition to collect keris with the quantity exceeding those of the collection of Yogyakarta Kingdom.

The Javanese keris kept in the museum are those with 7, 11, 13 curves or called luk and straight keris with various pamor (pattern), such as beras wutah / the spoiled rice (pamor that was accidentally resulted from the forging process, in the form of connectiong circles), sekar pakis (in the form of the fins flower) and so on. The keris from outside of Java that are kept there are, among others: the unique rencong Aceh, mandau from Kalimantan, keris from Madura and Bali, and keris from Sulawesi or Celebes.

In that collection room, you can also see many old keris handles with interesting designs. There are keris handles in the forms of human head, human full posture, dragon, lion, and so on. There are hundreds of pendok that are classified into two categories, namely Yogyakarta and Solo styles. Different from the keris handles with various designs, the shapes of pendok are relatively the same.

Thousands of the keris collection pay the difficulty to get in this collectio room. The museum attendant explained to YogYES that all the keris in the collection room will be displayed in an exhibition room that will be constructed in the future. You may hope that at your visit in the future time, you can see all of the collections without sophisticated permit.

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