YOGYAKARTA PALACE (KRATON) A Living Museum of Javanese Culture and The Place Where The King of Jogja Lives

Kyai Brajanala bell chimes several times, its voice not only filled but heard up to Siti Hinggil and Bangsal Pagelaran Yogyakarta Palace. While in Sri Manganti, the chanting in Javanese ancient language is heard being sung by a palace servant. An old book, offerings, lanterns, and gamelan lay in front of him. Some foreign tourists seem to listen to macapat song solemnly, and sometimes they are looked pressing the shutter button to take pictures. Although did not know the meaning of the song, I also sat in the front row. Javanese song sound that floated slowly mixed with fragrance of flowers and incense smoke, created a magical atmosphere that created a complacent. On the right side appeared 4 other palace servants who took turn preparing to sing. Outside the pavilion, the birds chirped noisily while flew from the sapodilla tree tops which usually grow in Yogyakarta Palace complex and then landed on the grass.

Keraton Kasultanan Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat or now better known by the name of Yogyakarta Palace is the center of Javanese culture living museum that is in the Special Region Yogykarta (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta). Not just becomes the place to live for the king and his family, the palace is also a main direction of cultural development of Java, as well as the flame guard of the culture. At this place tourists can learn and see directly on how the Javanese culture continues to live and be preserved. Yogyakarta Palace was built by Pangeran Mangkubumi (Prince Mangkubumi )in 1755, several months after the signing of the Perjanjian Giyanti (the Agreement Giyanti). Banyan forest (Hutan Beringin) was chosen as the place for building the palace because the land was between two rivers that were considered good and protected from possible flooding. Although already hundreds of years old and were damaged by the massive earthquake in 1867, Yogyakarta Palace buildings still stand firmly and well maintained.

Visiting Yogyakarta Palace will provide both valuable and memorable experience. The palace that became the center of an imaginary line connecting Parangtritis Beach and Mount Merapi has 2 booth doors. The first in Tepas Keprajuritan (in front of Alun-Alun Utara), and in Tepas Tourism (Regol Keben). If entering from Tepas Keprajuritan, visitors can only enter Bangsal Pagelaran and Siti Hinggil and see a collection of some palace carriages, if entering from Tepas Pariwisata, then you can enter Sri Manganti complex and Kedhaton where there is Bangsal Kencono (Kencono Ward) that is the main hall of the kingdom. The distance between the first and second booth door was not far, just by walking down Jalan Rotowijayan, visitors can walk or ride a rickshaw.

There are many things that can be seen at Yogyakarta Palace, ranging from the activity of servants in the palace who are doing the job or to see properties collection of the palace. Collections are kept in glass boxes that are spread various rooms ranging from ceramics and glassware, weapons, photographs, miniatures and replicas, to various kinds of batik and its deorama of the making process. Furthermore, tourists can also enjoy the art performances with different schedules each day. The show starts from the human puppet, macapat, puppet show, shadow puppets, and dances.

To enjoy art performances, tourists do not need to pay additional costs. If you come on Tuesday Wage, you can watch Jemparingan or archery competition in Mataraman style in Kemandhungan Kidul (South Kemandhungan). Jemparingan is conducted for the heritage of Sri Sultan HB X. The uniqueness of this jemparingan is that every participant must wear Javanese traditional clothing and archery in a sitting position.

After enjoying the show macapat, YogYES headed around the the palace complex and went into batik museum which was inaugurated by Sri Sultan HB X in 2005. The museum collection is quite diverse ranging from a variety of batik cloth up to the equipment to make batik from the HB VIII up to HB X. In addition, in the museum, several collections of gifts from a number of batik entrepreneurs in Yogyakarta and other areas were stored. While enjoying the museum's collection, YogYES’ sight was on one of the old wells that were built by Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII. On top of a well that has been closed using aluminum netting, there are writings that prohibit visitors to put in money. Being curious with the intention of the sentence, YogYES moved closer and looked into the well, it turned out that at the bottom of the well there are coin and paper money were scattered.

Being satisfied walking around the palace, YogYES stepped out Regol with cheerful hearts. On the way to the parking lot, a sign that offers classes to learn nembang / macapat, write and read Javanese letters, classical dance, and to learn how to be a puppet master was appeared. Apparently, in Yogyakarta Palace complex, there are several Javanese culture and art course centers or learning centers. YogYES, then promised that someday would come back to learn how to spell and write hanacaraka letters and learn to dance.

Opening Hours: 08:00 - 14:00 p.m

Admission:

Rp. 3,000 (Tepas Kaprajuritan)
Rp. 5,000 (Tepas Pariwisata)
The camera/video permit: Rp. 1,000

Perfomances daily schedule in the Palaca

Monday - Tuesday: Gamelan music (starting at 10:00 a.m)
Wednesday: Golek Menak puppet (starting at 10:00 a.m)
Thursday: Dance Perfomance (starting at 10:00 a.m)
Friday: Macapat (starting at 09:00 a.m)
Saturday: Leather puppet (starting at 09:30 a.m)
Sunday: Wayang Orang (man puppet) and dance performance (starting at 09:30 a.m)

TUGU JOGJA - The Most Popular Landmark in Yogyakarta

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.

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.

Biografi Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie

Presiden ketiga Republik Indonesia, Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie dilahirkan di Pare-Pare, Sulawesi Selatan, pada tanggal 25 Juni 1936. Beliau merupakan anak keempat dari delapan bersaudara, pasangan Alwi Abdul Jalil Habibie dan RA. Tuti Marini Puspowardojo. Habibie yang menikah dengan Hasri Ainun Habibie pada tanggal 12 Mei 1962 ini dikaruniai dua orang putra yaitu Ilham Akbar dan Thareq Kemal. Masa kecil Habibie dilalui bersama saudara-saudaranya di Pare-Pare, Sulawesi Selatan. Sifat tegas berpegang pada prinsip telah ditunjukkan Habibie sejak kanak-kanak. Habibie yang punya kegemaran menunggang kuda dan membaca ini dikenal sangat cerdas ketika masih menduduki sekolah dasar, namun ia harus kehilangan bapaknya yang meninggal dunia pada 3 September 1950 karena terkena serangan jantung saat ia sedang shalat Isya.

Tak lama setelah ayahnya meninggal, Ibunya kemudian menjual rumah dan kendaraannya dan pindah ke Bandung bersama Habibie, sepeninggal ayahnya, ibunya membanting tulang membiayai kehidupan anak-anaknya terutama Habibie, karena kemauan untuk belajar Habibie kemudian menuntut ilmu di Gouvernments Middlebare School. Di SMA, beliau mulai tampak menonjol prestasinya, terutama dalam pelajaran-pelajaran eksakta. Habibie menjadi sosok favorit di sekolahnya.

Biografi Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler lahir tahun 1889 di Braunau, Austria. Sebagai remaja dia merupakan seorang seniman gagal yang kapiran dan kadang-kadang dalam usia mudanya dia menjadi seorang nasionalis Jerman yang fanatik. Di masa Perang Dunia ke-I, dia masuk Angkatan Bersenjata Jerman, terluka dan peroleh dua medali untuk keberaniannya.

Kekalahan Jerman membikinnya terpukul dan geram. Di tahun 1919 tatkala umurnya menginjak tiga puluh tahun, dia bergabung dengan partai kecil berhaluan kanan di Munich, dan segera partai ini mengubah nama menjadi Partai Buruh Nasionalis Jerman (diringkas Nazi). Dalam tempo dua tahun dia menanjak jadi pemimpin yang tanpa saingan yang dalam julukan Jerman disebut “Fuehrer.”

Di bawah kepemimpinan Hitler, partai Nazi dengan kecepatan luar biasa menjadi suatu kekuatan dan di bulan Nopember 1923 percobaan kupnya gagal. Kup itu terkenal dengan sebutan “The Munich Beer Hall Putsch.” Hitler ditangkap, dituduh pengkhianat, dan terbukti bersalah. Tetapi, dia dikeluarkan dari penjara sesudah mendekam di sana kurang dari setahun.