by Wawies - Wisnu Wisdantio

Created on: July 29, 2010   Last Updated: August 14, 2010

The sultan Hamengkubuwono might never have thought if the Jogjakarta city that he had built in 1755 would become one from many of the most beautiful cities in Indonesia. Currently, the Jogjakarta city is so famous because of the value of cultural diversity within it. Jogjakarta is the capital of the Yogyakarta province, which is the cultural centers of Javanese kingdom. Similar to the city of Surakarta, which is the twin city of Jogjakarta that located about 60 kilometers to the east. Both of the cities have been always crowded by various performing arts and traditional ceremonies.

Centering in the royal palace called the Sultanate of Jogjakarta, the area within the palace fortress walls that usually called the Jero Benteng district contain various tourism destinations, which is always attract every tourist who come to Jogjakarta. The Taman Sari that was a royal park and the inn for the King and his relatives. Buildings of the princes and nobles residences that most of them were built in 18th century called Dalem Mangkubumen, Dalem Suryoputran, and Dalem Pakuningratan.

The Jogjakarta city also contain several of museums and art galleries. The Affandi museum is a gallery at the Adi Sucipto Street, which stores the artworks of Affandi, the famous painter from Indonesia. The Kekayon museum is a puppet museum that holds various collection of the Indonesian Wayang puppetry. Not only that, there is also a museum called the Batik Museum, which store many collections of the Batik Tulis in various patterns and motifs, including the Batik Tulis that was made in 1880.

The people of Jogjakarta are very proud with their traditional culture. It reflected in every important event on their daily lives that still marked by a various ceremony. Not just weddings, but also the birth and funeral ceremony. However, the main ceremony are the Suro festival and the Sekaten ceremony.

The Suro festival is a series of the Javanese New Year celebration in the first month on the Javanese calendar, called the month of Suro. Within this ceremony, the Javanese people perform a local tradition called Lelaku Topo Bisu, which is walking around the palace fortress without speaking to each other and without footwear that conducted in the middle of the night. The other ceremony that also conduct is the Jamasan Pusaka ceremony. Within this ceremony, the Royal servant that usually called as the Abdi Dalem wash the Royal Heirlooms, such as royal carriage, weapons and family Heirloom.

The Sekaten festival

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