What's Inside Jogja?

Another beautiful place to visit in Jogja is Taman Sari. Foreign visitors names this place as ‘Perfume Garden’ or ‘Fragnant Garden’ while Government of Jogja gives another name based on its history, the Water Castle. This exciting garden located about 2 kilometers in the south-west Kraton (Sultan Palace), just beside the well-known bird market named Ngasem.

Taman Sari was a recreation and relaxation place for Sultan of Jogjakarta, where he could swim together with his wives in a private pool than had sex with one of them. Sultan also did a meditation in a secret room inside this area once every year. Some peoples believes there was a tunnel directly to the Indonesian Ocean--about 30 kilometers in the south of the castle, which used by Sultan to meet his supernatural wife, the prettiest woman called Nyi Roro Kidul who live below the ocean. This garden was also functioned as ‘batik center’ where Sultan’s wives and daughters spent their times making ‘batik’ and a camouflage area in war situation as well.

The Taman Sari development ordered by Prince Mangkubumi as the first Sultan of Jogjakarta. The works started at 1758, 3 years after the Giyanti Agreement that divided the big Mataram Kingdom into two little sultanats; Jogjakarta and Surakarta (Solo). Its architecture is quietly a mix of various cultures and styles, such as Islam, Hindu, Buddha, Javanese, Chinese and also European. No wonder we could find the European style because the architect was a Portuguese, but no documentation tell his name except the royal title of Demang Tegis.

There are two main gates to get inside this place. Gapuro Agung is the west gate and now permanently blocked to separate this garden to a crowd village beside it. The east gate is Gapuro Panggung where visitor can enter the area. These gates are carved in Javanese motifs such as birds, plants and flowers. Another carve could be found at the middle gate between the pool and the batik center.


Text by Eko Sudjarwo

PS: Especially written for Michal Pomorski in Warszaw, Poland. Do you still remember this place and the ‘kurchak’?