Places of Interest in Yogyakarta Part 1

As a tourism and cultural city, Yogyakarta attracts a lot of foreign and domestic tourists, because many kinds of interesting tourist attractions can be found in this city. These places are usually visited during day time. While at night the toursit can enjoy beautiful art performances or go down town by becak (pedicab), the specific means of transportation of this city. The specific situation makes Yogyakarta more well-known. Some of the places of interest in Yogyakarta are:

Sultan palace
Sultan's palace was built in 1755 after the Giyanti agreement which states the division of Mataram Kingdom. Nowadays, people can come and visit the palace and Kraton's guides-who are wearing surjans or kebayas, the special costumes of Yogyakarta- are ready to take the tourists around.

Batik home industry
Batik is one of the old Indonesian cultures. The traditional dying method of the cloth with the aid of liquidated wax and their beautiful designs are an authentic proof of highly refined art of the Indonesian people. Many batik shops and factories can be seen in Prawirotaman and Tirtodipuran in the southern part of Yogyakarta city.

Kotagede
Kotagede is located in the south-eastern part of Yogyakarta. In this subdistrict, there are many artisans who make lovely silver wares and intricate felligree jewelries. The processs are done with a beating, pressing, and cutting technique.

Water Castle
Water Castle is a part of Sultan's Palace and it was used as a relaxed park by the families of Sultan. This park was built in 1765 by Sultan Hamengku Buwono I. He created a special model, that was mixture of Javanese and Portuguese architectures.
Besides functioning as a place of entertainment and recreation, Water Castle also served as unique self defence. The water can be used as a useful means to beautify the park as well as to avoid the enemy. When the enemies attacked, the Sultan and his families could flee away through the underground passages. They would go to their secret hiding place and then the Sultan ordered his men to open the water gate in order that the water would flood the passages and whole areas of the park. It could make the enemies who chase the Sultan and his families covered with water.

Sono Budoyo Museum
Sono Budoyo which is the most famous and complete museum in Yogyakarta is situated in the north side of the Sultans's Palace square. This museum exhibits various collections of antiques, relics and other cultural and historical remains.
During the day time people can come and see neolithicum earthen wares, the eight and ninth century satatues, utensils and many things made of bronze. Those things used to belong to the temples around Yogyakarta and Central Java. Other things which can also be found in the museum are various kinds of puppets, masks, Javanese musical instruments and many other relics and antiques. It is also necessary to know that Sono Budoyo has a collection of cultural books.

Ramayana Ballet Purawisata
In this place, a cluster of dancers perform Ramayana Ballet in Surakarta style. The performance has been presented since 1976. Visitors can enjoy the show which is performed nightly from 8 to 10 on the Open Air Theater. This show has been awarded as the Winner of the Indonesian Record Museum in 2001.