Kotagede

KOTAGEDE

Walking around the old treasure and its all purity.

Kotagede is an old yet rich cultural neighborhood located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Not only rich the culture but it is also rich in its real meaning since the thickness of the walls represents how wealthy people were back then. The thick wall gives us a portrayal of how people are aware of how many assets they have. I had been living in this area for almost 20 years, and it is the greatest time of my life. Every single piece of Kotagede is like an art performance for me; which I never get bored of it. Back then Kotagede was the first capital of the Mataram Sultanate built around the 16^th century. That’s why when you enter this neighborhood, you will find some of the remains of Mataram Sultanate such as Mataram Royal Cemetery (Makam Raja – Raja Mataram), Mataram Royal Mosque (Masjid Gedhe Mataram) along with the Bathing Place (Sendang Seliran).

My journey starts from here aka the Alun-Alun Village, as soon as I step into this alley; it feels like I’m being brought to the old-time era when it was no smartphone or either modern technology. I went there at 2 p.m in the afternoon and it was so hot outside but nothing hotter than the architecture here; it was mesmerizing! And I have to explore more. As I follow my curiosity about this place then I walked inside the village and supposedly my curiosity was right, it leads me to a better view of the village.

But did u realize? All of the doors here are only half of my height, what happens? Here is the answer, you know that Javanese are upholding politeness values. So, this is how they honor the owner of the house by bowing as they walk in; fascinating fact to know.

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I continued my journey to Mataram Royal Mosque (Masjid Gedhe Mataram) which has Royal Cemetery (Makam Raja – Raja) and the Bathing Place (Sendang Seliran) inside.

This building is most likely influenced by the Hindu culture. You can see that this mosque almost twinning with the Hindus Temple right? 

  

            The guy over there is wearing old traditional Javanese clothing, and for your information, if you want to go inside the Cemetery you have to wear it, and no camera is allowed. Here I am just standing outside of the Royal Cemetery

           

            

            Then I moved on to another place owned by Rudy Persik. A lot of people say it’s a unique building yet big even located in a very small alley. But the way to get to the place is so small and it only fits 2 people, nonetheless, it was wonderful.

5 minutes later, finally, I’m here at Rudy Persik’s house. Green, Antique, and mysterious are the words that could describe this.

and after walking around the building, I notice this

Apparently, the President of Poland (1990-1995) was here in 2010. And as a local said that this building is rarely to be opened to the public since it has a lot of antiques with high value.

And right next to Rudy Persik’s house, there is a Traditional Mosque (Langgar Dhuwur)

This building was supposed to be a prayer house back then. Langgar Dhuwur was built with a wooden construction that is supported by a wall column. Nowadays, only two Langgar are left. One is in Boharen owned by Mr. A. Charis Zubair, and the other is in Jagalan owned by Mr. Dalhar Anwar.

As the sun goes down, I think this is the end of my journey at the "Rumah Pocong" as locals called it. This is an old building that has been abandoned for a long time and locals assumed this a "Haunted House". But other than that, it's pleasing to watch even tho I don't want to live here anyway, hahaha.

Here are more pics of my lovely Kotagede...

Kotagede is old, but the oldness gives us the purity of how we describe the old Jogjakarta looks like. I hope in the future that all of these buildings keep maintained, so people worldwide can see, how culture can affect all of the aspects around like what happened here. Thank you my lovely Kotagede, thank you for bringing me back to the old time, even without a time machine. 

Until next time.....

Thank you guys for reading this story, see you in my next story

Love, Mann.

THE END.