Library > Geography & Travel

Kids On The Street

2009
This website is using a theme about Geography and Travel, and specifically it is entitled “The Sacred Axis of Yogyakarta” which talking about the order of Yogyakarta’s iconic places that is laid on an axis from north to south. But first of all, do you know what Yogyakarta is? Yogyakarta is a pretty small province placed on the southern side of the Java Island, one of big islands in Indonesia. And this province is different from the others because it is led by a Sultan. And he lives in his palace that is called Keraton. So this city is rather old and some of the citizens, especially who are living around the palace are still living in traditional ways. This province is used to be a kingdom years ago. This province has a volcano called Merapi on the north and southern sea on the south. Both of those places are well known by its mystical stories and beliefs about them. And there are also other interesting places of Yogyakarta. It is tugu and Krapyak stage. Tugu is a pole-like monument placed on the north side of Keraton, the Sultan’s palace and the Krapyak stage is a place where King of Yogyakarta went hunting. The Krapyak stage is placed on the south side of the Keraton. So Keraton is placed between the tugu and the Krapyak stage, and as I said before, these buildings are built in an imaginary axis, in a straight line from north to south. You have known a bit about Yogyakarta right? Places that I have mentioned are the iconic places of Yogyakarta. They are the places that are laid in the axis. How come they were built in a straight line? Were they just fortunately built like that or were they designed to be like that? You will know more about them in this website. These interesting facts are our main topic. And I’ll let you have a peek on it. So actually they were really designed like that. About 3 centuries ago, the first Sultan of Yogyakarta with his title Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono I designed and built the city. He also built the palace and its components. And he designed it to make an axis from north to south. The order of buildings means something. Most Yogyakarta’s people, especially elderly people know what the secret meaning of this sacred axis is. You want to know? Just read our article in the topics page. And you also have to know that this happened 3 centuries ago, where there was no such a sophisticated technologies that will help you in mapping or building something in straight line. It was 100% done by human power. Because of this, people believe that Sultan has a miracle form God. Some other may say that Sultan could do this because of the help the ‘unseen’ things or souls that he can communicate with. Not only the first, but also the next Sultans would have a mystical power or ability. So is that all for our website? No of course not. We also give you facts and opinions from the experts in these topics. But since there are lots of names here written in our mother language, we’ll explain you some of them so you won’t get lost in the middle of the story. The volcano that is named Merapi keeps a lot of stories and it can’t be separated from Yogyakarta. Historians say that this is the place for Sultan refresh himself. And many people believe that in the Merapi volcano land lived so many souls that are the allies of the Sultan. Then far in the south, before we enter the Keraton, we’ll see the Tugu first. Tugu that is a white pole-like monument laid in north of Keraton (Sultan Palace) means that the connection between human and their God. The white color of it means the Holiness of the God. And the Krapyak Stage, which is a box-shaped building, means the connection between humans and other living things. This building placed on the south of the Keraton. And long time ago, this place is the hunting site for Sultan and other Palace people. Between those two things laid the centre of government, The Keraton Yogyakarta. This is where Sultan with his family and his assistants live.