From July 16th to 20th, 2009, Gunadharma field in the area of Borobudur temple, Magelang, Central Java was so extravaganza. Various traditional dances from Indonesia and some foreign countries were greatly performed in the Borobudur International Festival as a part of Cultural preservation and Indonesian tourism promotion.



Borobudur Temple was chosen as the place to hold the Borobudur International Festival 2009 because it is just determined as the world heritage. The Indonesian Minister of Culture and Tourism, Jero Wacik, said that “if a place does not have any culture at all, then it will not be an interesting place. As if in Borobudur, if there is no temple, no tourists will be interested to give a visit”. It is quoted as he officially opened the Borobudur International Festival 2009.

On the other way around, if the culture is not promoted, then it will give no implication to the society. By having Borobudur International Festival 2009, Jero Wacik also hopes that it can give a great implication to the surrounding people live near Borobudur.

14 representations came from 14 different countries in the opening of Borobudur International Festival 2009. Among the 14, 10 countries were directly represented by their Ambassadors: Portugal, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Russia, Croatia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Rumania, Suriname and Saudi Arabia. The other 4 countries, Poland, Somalia, Brunei and Bulgaria, were represented by their Ambassadors’ representatives. Jero Wacik also added that such festival will be held in every 5 years. If it is to be held annually, it might indeed lose the spirit.

Meaningful Dances

This event was held in 5 days non-stop. Each day, the event was filled by the performances of local and foreign attractions as well as music performances. On the first day, Thailand performed their traditional dance which told about the excitement of a couple colorful birds. Besides that, India also performed a traditional dance symbolizing the excitement of a couple in love.

Meanwhile, Indonesia as the host performed various dances and traditional music from Aceh, Java and up tp Papua. For example, Goembira Remaja dance is performed to illustrate the excitement of female teenagers from Aceh. The interesting thing is that the dance movements are so full of energy and get faster in every movement.

Besides that, a prominent Indonesian Traditional Herbal and Cosmetics company, PT. Mustika Ratu Tbk, also took part in the Borobudur International Festival 2009. This cosmetic company consistently invents the Royal heritage products and gave a full support to the event. It is expected that the event will increase the image of Borobudur as the nation’s world heritage.

Through Alam Sumber Kesehatan dance, created by Dr. BRA Mooryati Soedibyo, the history of nation’s culture of the traditional health and beauty care is nicely described.

Thank you for visiting Indonesia Vacations ..

Places of interest in Yogyakarta:

Prambanan Temple

Tamansari Water Castle

Keraton Yogyakarta

Parangkusumo Beach

Parangtritis Beach

Fruit Garden Yogyakarta

Tamansari Water Castle Yogyakarta previously was a recreation garden or a holiday for the Sultan and the family. The other houses of rest between them Warungboto, Manukberi, Ambarbingun and Ambarrukmo worked during the holidays and meditation of the royal family. The other function that is used as a hiding place for the protection of the royal family against the enemy attack.








Tamansari Water Castle Yogyakarta is located about 2 km south of Yogyakarta Palace. Built by the Portuguese architect in European waters adorned with ornaments symbolize Javanese. Tamansari was in the Sultan Hamengku Buwono I in recent times of the seventeenth century. Tamansari not only recreation, but also from a bathing pool, canals, rooms and large pool extremerly (in the case of open channels).

Tamansari - water castle consist of:

1. The Sacred Room
   There is the sacred place in the complex showing a separated building, which once functioned as a hermitage place for the Sultan and his family
2. The Bathing Pool
   This part was formerly a pleasure place for the royal family. Consists of two bathing pool that are separated with a 2-storey building. From this building the Sultan watched all the women swimming in the outer pool. Then he might ask some of them to accompany him into the inner pool. The water sprouts from a forming animal statue into the pool. The pool is also adorned with some big flowerpot.
3. Kenanga or Cemeti Island
   This part compounds of some building such as Kenanga or Cemeti Island (forming Island), Sumur Gemuling and underground tunnels.
   
   This artificial island is a high building used as resting room and reconnoitering place. This will be the only building surfaced when the canals opened and the water over flew this area. From the higher place it like lotus floating in the middle of big pool.
   
   Sumur Gemuling is building constructed in circle such a well (Javanese: sumur) where some rooms formerly used as praying room.

The Tamansari Water Castle Yogyakarta have tunnels, in this area were underground passageways to the Sultan palace. The legend says about secret tunnel connecting to the south sea (Indian Ocean) where Nyai Roro Kidul or the Queen of the South has her palace. The supernatural Queen becomes the wife of Yogyakarta Sultan for many generations. This secret tunnels is gateway to the world where the Sultan meeting is supernatural wife. However the building also functioned as a hiding place for the royal family against the enemy attack.

Tamansari Water Castle Yogyakartais a very interesting place to visit. The location is very closed to the Sultan palace, Tamansari has it owned speciality in attraction reflecting in some unimpaired ancient building and its atmosphere as the main tourist object of Yogyakarta.

There is also Masjid Sokotunggal, it’s a unique old mosque with a single pillar that is different from Javanese traditional architecture. Although built in the early of XX century, the mosque gives another attraction of this area. Kampung Taman that lies in the Tamansari complex nearby known for the batik craft. Visitor can buy or watch handmade process for both batik painting and batik clothes. Therefore people from all over Indonesia and abroad have visited this village. Not for from Tamansari is Ngasem traditional market, the biggest bird market in Yogyakarta. All of those attractions have made Tamansari become one of main tourist object in Yogyakarta besides Yogyakarta palace.

Thank you for visiting Indonesia Vacations ..

Places of interest in Yogyakarta:

Borobudur Temple

Borobudur International Festival

Prambanan Temple

Keraton Yogyakarta

Parangkusumo Beach

Parangtritis Beach

Fruit Garden Yogyakarta

KERATON – It’s located between Tugu as the north border and Panggung Krapyak as the south border. It’s between Code River in the east and Winongo River in the west, also between the Merapi Mountain and the South Sea. For Javanese people, Keraton Yogyakarta is defined as the center of the world as a center of the universe.



History of the Sultan Palace

Under 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 water flood. 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.

Thank you for visiting Indonesia Vacations ..

Places of interest in Yogyakarta:

Borobudur Temple

Borobudur International Festival

Prambanan Temple

Tamansari Water Castle

Parangkusumo Beach

Parangtritis Beach

Fruit Garden Yogyakarta