Map of Yogyakarta City

Kraton Yogyakarta

Sultan or the King of Yogyakarta lives in kraton complex and these particular buildings were constructed in the mid-18th century. At the centre of the kraton, there is a place called Golden Pavilion (Bangsal Kencana), which has a beautifully detailed roof and some huge teak columns. 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. Other points of interest to look out for include the separate male / female entrances (with respective dragon signs), regular musical 'gamelan' performances and shadow puppetry, and the onsite Museum Kareta Kraton (Sultan's Carriage Museum).

Sultan Palace, Yogyakarta is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Yogyakarta. Sultan Palace, Yogyakarta was established in the year 1755 by Pangeran (Prince) Mangkubumi.
The Sultan Palace is popularly known as Kraton. The name originates from ke-ratu-an. The word means the dwelling place of the queen or king. Most of the buildings and structures in the Kraton area have some significance in regards to the Javanese philosophy of life.

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.

Address: Jl. Rotowijayan 1, Yogyakarta 55133, Indonesia
Open: Saturday to Thursday - 08:00 to 14:00, Friday - 08:00 to 13:00

Gudeg Yogyakarta

Gudeg is a traditional food from Yogyakarta and Central Java, Indonesia which is made from young Nangka (jack fruit) boiled for several hours with palm sugar, and coconut milk. Additional spices include garlic, shallot, candlenut, coriander seed, galangal, bay leaves, and teak leaves, the latter giving a brown color to the dish. It is also called Green Jack Fruit Sweet Stew.

Gudeg is served with white rice, chicken, hard-boiled egg, tofu and/or tempeh, and a stew made of crisp beef skins (sambal goreng krecek).

There are several types of gudeg; dry, wet, Yogyakarta style, Solo style and East-Javanese style. Dry gudeg has only a bit of coconut milk and thus has little sauce. Wet gudeg includes more coconut milk. The most common gudeg came from Yogyakarta, and usually sweeter, more dry and reddish in color because the addition of teak leaves. The Solo gudeg from the city of Surakarta is more watery and soupy with lots of coconut milk and whitish in color because teak leaves is absent. The East-Javanese style gudeg employs a spicier and hotter taste, compared to the Yogyakarta-style gudeg, which is sweeter. Gudeg is traditionally associated with Yogyakarta, and Yogyakarta often nicknamed as "Kota Gudeg" (city of gudeg). The center of Yogyakarta gudeg restaurants are in Wijilan area, east side of Yogyakarta Kraton (Sultans' palace).

Source: wikipedia

Ketoprak

Ketoprak (Javanese: Kethoprak) is a theatrical genre of Java featuring actors who may also sing to the accompaniment of the gamelan. It draws its stories from Javanese history and romances and in this differs from wayang wong, which shares with wayang kulit a repertoire drawn from the Hindu epics Mahabarata and Ramayana, as well as from ludruk which uses contemporary settings and the three-walled srimulat, which specializes in vampire stories. According to Clifford Geertz it was invented as recently as 1923.

Ketoprak troupes might owned or rented a performance building, such as Ketoprak Srimulat that used to be performed in a theatre both in Jakarta and Surabaya back in the 80's, or might travelling trough villages. The travelling ketoprak troupe is called Kethoprak Tobong, also known as Ketoprak Tonil. It might be considered as common people theatrical tradition in Java. The show were performed in certain period in an empty plain near a village and moved from one place to another, in fashion similar to western travelling circus. In this traveling troupe, the performers and staffs also brought show properties; such as costumes, stage decorations, chairs, gamelan, sound system, diesel electric generator, all were contained in a portable building that also used as set or stage called "tobong". During their journey, the troupe members also living in this tobong.

Recently ketoprak has been adopted into television show, the "Ketoprak Humor" show was aired in Indonesian national television. It is a comedy and action performance, often took place in modern settings or in historical ancient Javanese kingdoms. The ketoprak that took the story of ancient Java is quite similar with Wayang wong performance, however ketoprak performance is more free for improvisations, jokes and adoption of popular languages, while Wayang wong are traditionally highly stylized with precise and structurized dance drama discipline.

Source: Wikipedia

History of Yogyakarta

The City of Jogjakarta and the Kingdom of Jogjakarta was established as a result of a "Gianti war treaty" (Perjanjian Gianti) by HRH Prince Mangkubumi, who later become HRH Sultan Hamengkubuwono I. Officially, the creation of Kingdom of Jogjakarta is dated to October 7, 1756 as a result of civil war among the bloodline of The Kingdom of Mataram. The civil war was fought against Hamengkubuwono's and his elder brother, HRH Sunan Pakubuwono II. This civil war marked the end of the Kingdom of Mataram and resulted in the birth of the Kingdom of Jogjakarta and the Kingdom of Surakarta.

The root of the civil war started when Sunan Pakubuwono II agreed to cooperate with the Dutch colonial government and submit to foreign (western) powers. His younger brother, HRH Prince Mangkumbumi (HRH Sultan Hamengkubuwono) stood against the concept, due to concern that his people would become slaves under Dutch rule. The Javanese slaves were used to work for businesses owned by V.O.C. and the Dutch Colonial Government and exported to present day Suriname in South America. In the Netherlands itself, some of the Dutch people stood against the policy of their home government.

Prince Mangkubumi fought until the defeat of the Pakubuwono forces and declared sovereignty in the Kingdom of Jogjakarta south of the original Kingdom of Mataram. Because of this historical act of bravery and sacrifice, Jogjakarta is given Special Administrative Region (SAR) status, making the Province of Jogjakarta the only province headed by a monarchy.

Source: Wikipedia