Yogyakarta

An interesting city in Central Java, Yogyakarta is popular with tourists (mainly domestic, but also international) for its proximity to the ancient sites of Borobudur and Prambanan, but also has a number of sights of interest in the city itself. It was the capital of Indonesia between 1946 and 1949, and is the only part of the country to still be ruled by an hereditary sultan, with the current tenth sultan remaining hugely popular.

Yogyakarta is one of the oldest cities in Indonesia, and its many heritage sites were recently (2023) recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I started my exploration in the Taman Sari area, built in the mid-18th century by the first two sultans as a royal garden complex. The main site remaining is the Taman Sari Water Palace which is a popular tourist site.

Pulo Kenanga has not been restored, but is an atmospheric site on top of a small hill in the Taman Sari area.

As the Taman Sari complex fell into disuse in the 19th century it became a residential area, known as Kampung Taman, which currently has a population of 2,700. This is filled with atmospheric narrow lanes.

And home to this tunnel…

To the north east of Taman Sari is Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, which also dates from the first sultan and the mid-18th century, but is in much better condition as it has remained the home of the sultan through ten generations.

The nearby Gedhe Keraton Yogyakarta Mosque is where the sultan would visit, and is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the city.

Heading further north the Yogyakarta Batik Monument commemorates the General Offensive of 1 March 1949, in which Indonesian troops briefly retook Yogyakarta from Dutch occupation, putting pressure on the colonisers to leave.

It is in front of the Vredeburg Museum, a former 18th century Dutch colonial fort turned into a museum telling the story of the fight for independence through a number of large dioramas.