Permata Theatre

In around 1940s, a movie theatre named Permata was built in Yogyakarta. As the name implies, the theatre rally became the diamond for Jogja community, especially young people. Permata theatre did not only function as a place to see the movie, but it also function as a place for hanging around and doing various romantic things of the youth. The existence of the movie theatre could even change the name of the area from Jalan Sultan Agung to Permata area. The phenomenal Permata theatre by that time, especially the era of 60s to 70s, attracted all young people in Yogyakarta to have to come.

This movie theatre was a symbol of prestige for young people as café and mall are at present time. It was in this theatre as well that phenomenal Indonesian films such as Badai Pasti Berlalu of 70s version and Gita Cinta di SMA were on. Nonetheless, time goes by, as the morning that will always turn to evening. It happens to Permata movie theatre of which triumph is decreasing, moving to the twilight of its business. The number of the employees was tens but only few left now. The branches located until Wonosobo city are ruining. Permata theatre is not famous for its good films anymore; instead, it is known as a movie theatre showing low-quality films.

References :
www.yogyes.com

Mataram Ditch

During Japanese colonization, many Indonesian people were sent to different regions to be employed as forced workers or romusha. They were forced to build various infrastructures to support the Japanese military to fight the Alliance. The people who served as romusha suffered so much; they did not get enough food and they were treated so severely that many of them died. This made Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX - the former king of Yogyakarta - felt a pity and tried to put the romusha away from Yogyakarta people.


He ordered the people to build an irrigation ditch as long as 30 kilometers from the Progo River to the Opak River, and objected to let his people to join the romusha by claiming that they still had to finish the project. The ditch was named Yoshiro Canal and up to now, it functions to irrigate teen-thousands hectares of rice field. Going along the bank of this historical irrigation ditch on a motorcycle or a mountain bike promises a pleasant experience when it is done in October - May since from June to September this ditch is dried to cut off the contamination cycle.



The perfect start would be from the crossroad near the building of Magister Management of Gadjah Mada University on Kaliurang Road. There are two choices of routes from this point. We may choose to go westwards to meet the upper stream of Progo River in Ancol village of Magelang Regency. Otherwise, we may go along the Mataram ditch to the east direction that will end in Opak River in Kalasan.

Bintaran, Indische City of Yogyakarta

Similar to Kotabaru, Bintaran was an alternative dwelling place for Dutch people who lived in Indonesia. It grew when Loji Kecil area could not accommodate the inhabitants anymore. Physically, the area that you can reach by walking eastwards from Gondomanan crossroad did not grow as fast as Kotabaru. One of the factors was the location that is still close to Loji Kecil so that various facilities could be accessed easily.

Before becoming an Indische dwelling place, Bintaran was known as the place where Ndalem Mandara Giri functioning as the house of Prince Haryo Bintoro, one of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Kingdom descendants. The growth of Bintaran as an Indische dwelling place was predicted to begin in 1930s signed with construction of house, facilities such as church and even prison. Generally, Dutch people who lived in Bintaran were those working as officers and workers at sugar factory.

Bintaran was decorated with buildings in characteristic European-style architecture. Nonetheless, the characteristic of the buildings in Bintaran area is different from the characteristic of the buildings in Loji Kecil or Kotabaru. The yard of the house in Bintaran area is wider, while the verandah is smaller with many pillars; exterior window shutter is in the form of blind and the interior window leaf is decorated with glasses.

References :
www.yogyes.com

Madukismo Sugar Factory (Pabrik Gula Madukismo)

Visiting Madukismo Sugar Factory, you will feel the nuance of the early industry era. An old, big building with vast yard, old machineries and the railway track used for flatcar to transport sugarcane will greet you and stress such an impression. This factory offers tour enjoyment that is different from others. You can make an appointment first with the management of the company in order to enjoy Madukismo Agro Tourism is tour package since it is not done anytime. When you come to the factory area, you will see Madu Chandya building that is located close to the factory. Then, you will be guided to know the making process of sugar from the sugarcane and the methylated spirit as the side product of sugar. The explanation is given by utilizing audiovisual equipments in order to make the presentation interesting.A short journey on an old train can be made after the presentation. You will be able to feel the nuance of a travel in the past when you are in the compartment of the old train driven by diesel machine made in Germany. The old train will bring you around the factory area and the sugar can plantation close to the factory.Getting down from the train, you will go to the location of the factory. If you come in May - September, you will be able to see the processes of sugar production directly. The processes include molasses tapping, molasses distillation, molasses evaporation, crystallization, sugar stirring and packaging. While observing the production process, you can look at the old machines used in the factory.

Exiting the location of sugar factory, you can go to methylated spirit factory of Madukismo that is located at the west of the sugar factory. In the factory that was built in the same time as the sugar factory, you will see the processes of the spirit production that include raw material dilution, fermentation and distillation. Methylated spirit and other alcohol products produced by this factory are processed from molasses, side product of sugar production.

If you have completed your tour in the factory, you should not rush home. You can still enjoy many things around the factory area. Tracking the route of sugar cane transportation through sugar cane field and villages in Bantul area is an interesting to do. To the east of the factory, you can also see old train compartments that are not functional anymore.The used irons from this factory location were brought to Thailand to construct Kwai River bridge, the bride connecting Thailand to Burma as the battle location during the Second World War and was filmed on The Bridge of the Kwai River that won 7 Oscars in 1957, included the Best Movie award. Now, the bridge that was built using the used irons from Madukismo Sugar Factory becomes one of the main tour destinations in Thailand to commemorate the raid by the allied Forces and the forced labors.

If you come at the early time of sugarcane pressing (May-September), you will see the ritual of cembengan done by the workers and the community around the factory. The ritual is intended to wish the best luck for the sugarcane pressing to be done smoothly. During the ritual, you can see the bride and bridegroom sugarcanes, the first sugarcane pressing, jathilan performance, community market, plantation of buffalo's and cow's heads, offerings, reading of Koran holy verses and night-long performance of leather puppet show. If you want to leave for Kasongan village that is located some kilometers from the factory you can travel southwards.


References : www.yogyes.com

Great Mosque of Jogjakarta ( Masjid Gedhe Jogjakarta )

A mosque known as the Great Mosque of Kauman located on west side of the North Square that represents the transcendence to show the existence of Sultan (the King of Yogyakarta). Sultan, besides as the commander of war or the leader of government (senopati ing ngalaga), also has the position as the representative of God(sayidin panatagama khalifatulah) in this world to lead the religious ritual in kasultanan.

Established in the era of Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono I by an architect named K. Wiryokusumo, this mosque had its first pengulu named Kyai Faqih Ibrahim Diponingrat. As one of other mosques in Java, it building has triple roof with mustoko. Standing on a square are, it has a terrace and pool on the three sides of the mosque. This mosque has something that others do not have; it is an entrance gate and a pair of pagonan building in the front yard for the sekaten gamelan. It was once renovated after a big earth quake that destroyed its building. This mosque was a mosque for the royal to do ritual, religious ceremony, religion extend and a place for religion enforcement.

The whole area of the mosque is surrounded by high wall where in the north side lays Dalem Pengulon, residence and office for pengulu. While in the west side of it, there is a cemetery where Nyai Ahmad Dahlan lays. She was one of the pengulu that led the royal servants in the matter of religious etc like pamethakan, suronoto, and modin. Area around the mosque is a living area for the santri or ulama (Moslem). It is well known as Kauman and Suronatan. Historically, the religious living in this area inspires the growth of Muhammadyah in 1912 M led by K.H.A. Dahlan.

References :
www.wikimapia.org
www.yogyes.com
www.javatourism.com

Vredeburg Fort

Vredeburg Fort is one of history place in Yogyakarta City. Vredeburg Fort that is located across Gedung Agung. This fort was the Dutch protection basis from possible attacks by Yogyakarta Kingdom troops. Similar to other forts, this place built in 1765 is high, square walls confining the area inside with one monitoring tower in each of the four corners for patrolling purpose.


References :
www.yogyes.com