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Sunday, April 11, 2004
ullen sentalu
ullen sentalu museum is located on the slopes of mt. merapi (kaliurang), about 25 km from yogyakarta's town center. it is far from traffic pollution & crowds of malioboloro & filled with cool & fresh air. my friend promoted it as the best museum in yogyakarta. it is indeed exceptional, with fascinating displays which give rare insight into the little known inner lives of princesses & queens.
 ullen sentalu is an acronim of javanese language : "lateng blencong sejatine tataraning lumaku"- taken from the light (blencong/pelita) used in wayang kulit show, means *light of life* ("pelita kehidupan"). the museum was opened in '97, privately owned by thomas haryonagoro, a retired businessman who investing savings in this museum to express his love & appreciation of javanese culture richness as well as to preserve old batik forms & other arts of the kratons.
at first u'll be welcomed with a cup of delicious ginger tea made by special recipe of the wife of a past sultan of surakarta. then a guide will escort u around the complex. no picture allowed!! first section we entered was underground tunnel. it was built to protect selves from activity's danger of mt. merapi. here u can find life-sized paintings of various sultan with their wives, photographs of the palace, and other interesting historical photographs of people & events during the colonial era (including the beauty of palace's flower : gusti nurul kusumawardhani -- *my friend kept repeating how beatiful she is*). there are various artifacts, including the actual clothing (batiks & kebayas) worn in the portraits which were carefully displayed in glass cabinets.
then we're taken to floating buildings with stone corridors which have many turns... *just like secret garden*. one room is designed as a real princess' room of surakarta's palace (it's the room of gusti sekar kedaton koes sapariyam, daughter of sunan pb XI a.k.a tinaka). on the wall u can read love letters & poems written to (& from) friends & family during 1939-1949. u can also see several batiks which ever worn by tinaka and her accesories.
second room is called "pendapa pengantin keraton yogyakarta". here u can meet special batiks made during 1950s to be worn in marriage procession, also the photographs of marriage celebration of 7 couples - sons & daughter of sultan hb VIII in 1930s. other rooms are batiks rooms where u can compare special batik styles of yogyakarta & surakarta & north coastal towns of java.
[the pic above was katon bagaskara's location for his 1999 video clip of his song "tidurlah tidur, bidadari kecilku"]
it is worth a trip to kaliurang! each visitor comes out rewarded with deeper appreciation of the depth of javanese culture, which u cannot find at yogyakarta's palace nor other museums.
stelly @ 10:40 PM
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