An Errand to Kota Gede...

Kota Gede, which means "big city" or "great city" in Indonesian (and Javanese), is a quarter of Jogjakarta most widely known now as the center of the city's famous silver industry.  Kota Gede, which existed as a town unto itself until the bustling city of Jogja expanded and absorbed it in the latter half of the 20th century, was also the first capital of the second Mataram kingdom of Java that thrived between the late-16th and mid-18th centuries.  Kota Gede makes a nice excursion and is one of the many places you can visit when you travel to Jogjakarta.  I recently went on an errand to visit some of the silversmiths in the district to see about getting my recently-removed appendix silver-plated.  Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone willing to take on the job; a real pity because I was really looking forward to owning what would probably be the world's only silver-plated appendix.  I ended up making the gut-wrenching (tee-hee) decision to deep-six my appendix before heading to the airport to catch the plane back to Sumatra, because I knew it would be nothing but trouble trying to explain why I had a human organ in my backpack in the unlikely (but possible) event someone questioned me at the airport.

Kota Gede's History

In the 16th century the most of the island of Java was ruled by the Sultanate of Pajang, a short-lived kingdom established by Hadiwijaya after the destruction of the Sultanate of Demak, which itself arose out of the disintegration of the Majapahit Empire in the 15th century.  Hadiwijaya claimed direct descent from both Majapahit and Demak, and his claim to power was based on this royal lineage.  Sultan Hadiwijaya gave a forest area called Mentaik (located near the center of power of the old Mataram kingdom) to a vassal named Ki Gede Pemanahan for service to the kingdom, and so Ki Gede Pemanahan moved to the forest area and established a village, which would later be called "Kota Gede".  After Ki Gede Pemanahan died his son, Senopati Ingalaga (later known as Panembahan Senopati or Ngabei Loring Pasar) took over.  Panembahan Senopati is credited with founding the "new" Mataram kingdom and began building a palace or "Keraton" around 1575 and rebelling against Pajang.  Panembahan Senopati claimed genealogical descent from the original Mataram rulers, who built the magnificent monuments at Prambanan and Borobudur (1).

Map of Mataram Sultanate from Wikipedia

Panembahan Senopati expanded the area of Mataram before he died in 1601.  During his reign he built the Keraton, the central market (which still functions today) and the royal graveyard.  His successors then conquered most of Java with the exception of Banten and Batavia.  One of the later rulers, Sultan Agung (a hero in Javanese and Indonesian history), began building the Great Mosque (Masjid Agung), which is now the oldest mosque in Jogja.  It was later upgraded and expanded by Paku Buwono, the sultan of Surakarta.  In 1680 Kota Gede was ransacked by an army from Madura, and so the center of power was moved.  Then in the 18th century the Mataram rulers waged war against the Dutch, who were attempting to consolidate their grip on Java.  Later the Sultanate of Mataram was split into the Sultanate of Surakarta and the Sultanate of Jogjakarta.

Things to See in Kota Gede

Kota Gede is located about 5 kilometers southeast of the Kraton in central Jogja.  The best way to get there is probably by taxi, but you can also take a becak (bicycle rickshaw) or andong (horse cart).  You can also walk, which will take 1.5-2 hours, but it's a good idea to have a map.  Most people go there to buy silver and see the craftsmen at work, which is worth the trip.  A couple of the larger shops open their workshops and have guided tours, so you can get an idea at the incredible skill of the craftsmen and women that create the intricate filigree jewelry and decorative pieces the place is known for.  The silver shops are mostly family-owned and in many cases they have been handed down through several generations.  In addition much of the work is true cottage industry, meaning that shop owners farm out work to artisans in Kota Gede, which they produce in their own homes.  It's definitely worth the trip.  If you want to buy something you can dicker with the salespeople.  They will do custom work (though they won't silver-plate a body part) and they also do a lot of stuff for export to big jewelry companies.  But the silver industry, which started to develop in earnest in the 1930s, is only part of the attraction of Kota Gede (2).

 

It's also nice to walk around the neighborhoods (kampungs) in the district.  This is where most of the craftpeople live, and there are a lot of neat buildings constructed in the traditional Javanese style (joglo).  Unfortunately a catastrophic earthquake in May 2006 hit Kota Gede quite hard, severely damaging or destroying more than half (88 of approximately 170) of the traditional houses.  Reconstruction has been a problem because a lot of the residence lack the money to restore their houses (3), and many folks have even sold their entire houses to antique dealers, who disassemble and move the structures out of the district.  Complicating this problem is the fact that government aid to the earthquake victims wasn't really coordinated and at the time there was no coherent preservation plan in place.  Out of necessity business owners rebuilt quickly because they needed a source of income.  On the positive side this has awakened people and the government to the need to protect the heritage of the area, and in 2011 the government of Jogja declared Kota Gede a historical preserve.  They have made some admirable efforts to clean up the area and have installed a number of very informative signs with historical and cultural notes, which makes walking around the area much more interesting.

Aside from the general atmosphere, the main historical attractions in the area are the remains of the old Kraton, Masjid Agung, and the royal cemetery (4).  The palace is near the market (Pasar Gede), which is most active on Legi, one of the five days of the Javanese week.  You can go to the Kraton and mosque on your own schedule, but the cemetery is only open to visitors at certain times (at the time of writing Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday between 8am and 4pm, but I think this is subject to change).  You have to wear traditional Javanese clothes to enter, but they can be borrowed at the entrance.  You also are not allowed to take pictures.  You can see hundreds of tombs there, including the tomb of Ki Ageng Mangir, Panembahan's treacherous son-in-law.  Since Ki Ageng Mangir betrayed the Sultan he is only half-way buried in the cemetery.

There are also some neat colonial buildings since Kota Gede was a center of Dutch administration.  A couple of these have been turned into up-scalish restaurants, and they both have good food and excellent atmosphere.  Omah Dhuwur (Javanese for high house) has a really nice garden and outside seating, but every time I've been there they have been out of what I wanted to eat.  When I went in there the other day they had an all you can eat buffet for 60,000 rupiah, but I didn't partake.  The other place, Sekar Kedhaton (flower of the Palace in Javanese) has indoor seating and is quite nice.  It's close by Omah Dhuwur and is a nice place to take a break from the heat.

Notes

(1)  I call Panembahan Senopati's kingdom "new" Mataram to keep it from being confused with "old" Mataram, a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom founded around the middle of the 8th century.  I wrote a little about "old" Mataram in a previous post.  Around the 10th century the center of Mataram power moved to east Java for unknown reasons (maybe a catastrophic eruption of Merapi volcano).  The old kingdom was neglected, and if my understanding is correct, most of the area was reclaimed by the forest which became known as Mentaik.  "New" Mataram was an Islamic sultanate, though the Hindu-Buddhist influence is very clear.  The "new" Mataram kingdom is also the ancestor of the current sultans of Surakarta (Solo) and Jogjakarta.

(2)  This refers to the commercial silver industry.  But the tradition of craftsmanship has been there since the beginning of Mataram, when Panembahan Senopati assembled artisans and put them to work making royal decorations and jewelry.

(3)  Though in many cases the intent and desire seems to be there, it is evidently really expensive to build a joglo in the traditional way.

(4)  After the center of power moved away from Kota Gede the royal family the cemetery was replaced by the royal cemetery at Imogiri, which is outside Jogja.  Imogiri is supposed to be a neat place to visit too but I've never been there.