SULTAN PALACE
Kraton of
Yogyakarta (formally known as: Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat) is a
palace complex located in the city of Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia.
The palace is the main seat Sultan of Yogyakarta and his family. It serve as
cultural center for the Javanese people and contained a museum which display
the sultanate's artifacts.Yogyakarta Palace was built by Prince Mangkubumi in 1755-1756 (Javanese year: 1682), several months after the signing of the Treaty of Giyanti between Prince Mangkubumi of Yogyakarta, Hamengkubuwono of Surakarta and Dutch East India Company. A Banyan Forest was chosen as the site of the palace due to its location between two rivers which were considered good protection from possible flooding.
On 20 June 1812, Stamford Raffles led a 1,200-strong British force to attack the walled royal city of Yogyakarta. The Javanese although outnumber the invader, wasn't prepared for the attack and was taken back by the event. In one day the city of Yogyakarta fell, with the royal palace sacked and burned. The total loot from the palace valued £15,000 in gold, jewels and hard currency (which valued £500,000 today). The event was the first time an attack has been carried out into a court in Java and as a result the sultanate was completely subjugated to colonial authority.
Most of the palace's current form are built by Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII who reign from 1921 to 1939. It suffered from an earthquake in 1876 and 2006, and was subsequently rebuilt after the devastation
Taman Sari also known as Taman Sari Water Castle is a site of a former royal garden of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. It is located about 2 km south within the grounds of the Kraton, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Built in mid 18th century, the Taman Sari had multiple functions, such as a resting area, a workshop, a meditation area, a defense area, and a hiding place.
Taman Sari consisted of four distinct areas: a large artificial lake with islands and pavilions located in the west, a bathing complex in the centre, a complex of pavilions and pools in the south, and a smaller lake in the east. Today only the central bathing complex is well preserved, while the other areas have been largely occupied by the Kampung Taman settlement.
Since 1995 the Yogyakarta Palace Complex including Taman Sari is listed as a tentative World Heritage Site