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Bengawan Solo: The Longest River in Java

admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 05:01:42 +0000

Bengawan Solo River (alternatively, Solo River, with Bengawan being an Old Javanese word for river) is the longest river on the Indonesian island of Java, approximately 600 km in length. Apart from its importance as watercourse to the inhabitants and farmlands of the eastern and northern parts of the island, it is a renowned region in paleoanthropology circles. Many discoveries of early hominid remains have been made at several sites in its valleys, especially at Sangiran, including that of the first early human fossil found outside of Europe, the so-called “Java Man” skull.

The Bengawan Solo River has its source at the volcano of Mount Lawu,in the border of Central Java and East Java. It passes through the major city of Surakarta (called Solo by the local inhabitants).

Source: wikipedia

Gamelan: Javanese Traditional Music Instrument

admin — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 23:19:37 +0000

Gamelan is Javanese traditional music instrument. Gamelan instruments are mostly metallophone and gong type instruments which produce tones when struck with mallet (tabuh). Other types of percussion instruments included in the gamelan ensemble are: a wooden xylophone (gambang), and a set of two headed drums (kendhang) played with the palm and/or fingers.

There are a few instruments in the gamelan ensemble which are not percussion instruments: they are a two-stringed bowed instrument (rebab), a plucked zither-type instrument (celempung or siter), and a bamboo flute (suling). A female singer (pesindhen), and a male chorus of two or three singers (penggérong) also participate in the gamelan ensemble.

The gamelan musicians should sit crosslegged (sila) before their instruments. Because of this sila position, it is most comfortable for the musicians to take off their shoes or sandals. Commonly, the musicians hold the tabuh in their right hand, except if the instrument must be played with two tabuh.

Pasar Gedhe (Gedhe Market)

admin — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:13:27 +0000

Pasar Gedhe (Gedhe Market) is a historical traditional market located in Kelurahan Sudiprajan on the intersection of Jl.Sudirman and Jl. Pasar Gede, just east of the Surakarta City Hall. Before it was built as the current state, Gedhe Market was only a small market built on an area of 10,421 hectares. On 1927, following the order from Sunan Paku Buwono, the market was renovated.The architect of the renovation was a Dutchman named Thomas Karsten. The architecture had a mixture of a Dutch and traditional style. It was a two story building with the gate of the main building resembling that of a throne. The construction was finished in the year 1930 and had been given the name Hardhjanagara Gede Market (also known as Hardjanegara Market) . The name “Gede” was given due to the big roof of the market (Gede is translated as Large in English). the second largest traditional market in Solo.

Gedhe Market is considered as a cultural conservation of Surakarta. It is one of the largest traditional market in Solo, next to Klewer Market. The 8.560 m² of area consists of 127 shops and 133 kiosks and 633 market stalls. The market sells all sorts of needs, especially cooking needs. It provides almost every type of vegetables, meat and fruits. Besides that, you can also find cookies, snacks and Indonesian type pastries such as risoles, pastel, lumpia and others. There are also traditional beverage such as es dawet and all sorts of jamu. The price for each item is extremely cheap in Solo. One of the uniqueness of the market is the sliding price law, where buyers can bargain for the price of each item. But one thing to remember is to respect each others when bargaining, and don’t force the price too low for the merchants.

Gladak Langen Bogan (Galabo)

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:18:05 +0000

If you visit Surakarta (Solo) in Indonesia after you have exhausted yourself from the activities throughout the day and you are in search of an outdoor location to have dinner while at the same time relax and enjoy the night breeze in Solo, there’s a perfect place that’s well suited for you. The place is named Gladak Langen Bogan (Galebo). Due to the harsh pronounciation and name, usually people just refer it as GALEBO.

Galebo is an evening outdoor culinary venue located on the heart of Solo, at Jl. Mayor Sunaryo right across Beteng Trade Center (BTC) and Pusat Grosir Solo (PGS) and very close to Gladag North Square. The venue was inaugurated on the 13^th of April 2008 by the Minister of Industry and Trade, Marie Elka Pangestu. In this venue, tourists are facilitated with various types of typical Solo dishes in various food stalls, all gathered in one place so it isn’t necessary to wander around the city looking for a place to eat, especially typical Solo dishes.

Galebo is open from 5:00 PM till 12:00 PM. In the afternoon, the area is used as a regular highway. Towards the opening hour of Galebo, the highway will be closed for traffic passage by the city officials. By closing the highway, visitors can easily walk throughout the street while enjoying the evening nuance of Surakarta.

Standing out as one of the icons of Surakarta for culinary venue, Galebo offers various original Surakarta and Javanese food. You can find pastries and snacks such as lumpia, tofu meatball, lekker cookie and much more, or you can also find daily Javanese dishes such as oxtail soup (sop buntut), sate, Javanese noodles, fried duck, soto, tengkleng and others to choose from. The various meals must be accompanied with special beverages, and Galebo provides it all. You can try traditional Javanese typical beverage such as wedang ronde, wedang dongo, es dawet, es campu and es teler , or your everyday beverage such as iced tea, coffee, soda and various choices of juice. Overall there are more than 50 choices of food and beverages in Galebo. Not only does Galebo offer many different kinds of meals, the price for each meal is relatively cheap compared to the same kind of meal sold in hotels or restaurants around Solo.

Pusat Grosir Solo (Solo Wholesale Market Center)

admin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:27:26 +0000

Pusat Grosir Solo (Solo Wholesale Market Center) is a comprehensive 5-story tall wholesale center in the heart of the city of Solo (Bundaran Gladak), Central Java. The wholesale center is also one of the main tourism and shopping attraction in Solo because of its strategic location near Keraton Solo, and Pasar Klewer (Klewer market). Solo Wholesale Market Center (or commonly known as PGS) is a traditional market with the concept of modern buildings. It is the center of clothing market in the city, where you can find various kinds of clothing made from various materials. The market provides items such as Batik, textiles, shoes, bags, accessories, stationery, all sorts of shirts, all sorts of pants, and more. What makes this complex more preferred than other clothing shops in Solo is the competitive price that you can get for every item, and the quality of them as well. As a wholesale market, you can even purchase items in wholesale and sell them again in retail to gain a significant amount of profit.

The wholesale complex began its operation in December 2005. With good and professional management which emphasis is safety and the convenience of its visitors and the tenant, Solo Wholesale Center provides good business opportunity. PGS has a spacious hall, wide parking lots, and supported by comfortable business facilities such as escalators, elevators, loading and unloading deck, a parking lot on each floor, and also a Food Court.

Sangiran Archaeological Site (Situs Purbakala Sangiran)

admin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:59:59 +0000

The research in Sangiran was first conducted by a German man named G.H.R Von Koenigswald in 1930. He was recruited by the Dutch Government as a staff of the mining company in Bandung in 1930. He trained Sangiran people how to identify and manage the fossils professionally. The research results, then, was collected in Totomarsono’s house (the head of Krikilan Village) until 1975. At that time, there were many visitors who came to this place and later an idea to build a museum to display the fossils emerged. At first, Sangiran Museum was built on the 1,000 square meters area located beside the Village Hall of Krikilan (Balai Desa Krikilan). A new representative museum was built in 1980 to keep the discovered fossils and to give good service to the visitors. The museum was built on top of 16,675 square meters area with 750 square meters of the main building. It was decorated in a Javanese House Architecture (Joglo) and divided into certain sections, the show room, the hall, the laboratory, the library, the audio visual room (a place to watch movies about the pre-historic human civilization), the storage room, the mosque, the rest rooms, the parking area, and the art shops which display stone handicrafts called “The Beautiful Fortune Stone” (batu indah bertuah in Indonesian). They are made out of stones that are found in Cemoro River. Sangiran Museum will always be developed and completed with many supporting facilities to affirm its existence as one of the world ‘s heritage which plays a very significant role in science development. Nowadays, Sangiran Museum has turned into a huge museum with modern architecture.

In 1936, Von Koenigswald discovered Mandible (lower jaw) of hominid fossils for the first time. A year later, in 1937, he discovered a cranium in the edge of Cemoro River in Kecamatan Kalijambe. Nowadays, there are fifty human fossils that have been discovered in Sangiran Site. The taxonomy of Homo erectus experienced three stages of evolution, they are: Homo erectus archaic (firmer), Homo erectus tipik (slimmer), Homo erectus (progressive).

The most amazing thing about Sangiran Site is that we can observe the greatest unbroken layers of stratigraphy from the last Pleistocene era until the middle Pleistocene for about 2.000.000 to 250.000 years ago.

Solo International Performing Arts

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:52:20 +0000

The Solo International Performing Art presents the international exhibition of traditional heritages which are gathered not only from Solo but also from other Places in Indonesia and even abroad.

Pura Mangkunegaran (Mangkunegaran Shrine)

galuh — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:42:57 +0000

The Mangkunegaran shrine is another place you must visit in your tour to Solo. With its many great features, Pura Mangkunegaran will give you an unforgettable experience of this royal heritage visit.

For decades, this has been the residence of the royal family of Sri Paduka Mangkunegara. This palace was built in 1757; adapting the building design of “kraton” in a smaller scale. Therefore, this building has similar features and parts of “kraton” such as pamedan, pendopo, pringgitan, dalem and kaputran - which are all surrounded by solid walls.

Here you can visit a small museum featuring rich collection of royal artifacts, a unique museum with an interesting collection of old Javanese literature, and you can even take part in some cultural activities such as the traditional classic Javanese dance course, held in this place twice a week.

Radya Pustaka Museum

galuh — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:38:47 +0000

Radya Pustaka Museum was built in the period of King Pakubuwono XI, by Kanjeng Raden Adipati Sosrodiningrat IV at Dalem Kepatihan (The House of Kepatihan) on October 28, 1890. It is the oldest museum in the city, if not the country. The museum was then relocated to Jalan Slamet Riyadi on January 1, 1913, where it stands until today. The main person behind the creation of the museum was RTH Djojohadiningrat II, who is also known as Walidi. In order to remember his contribution and service to Museum Radya Pustaka, a building was built on the east side of the museum, which is known as “Gedung Walidyasana”. In the museum, you can find rich collections of royal artifacts and historical items, most of them are items collected by RTH Djojohadiningrat II himself. Radya Pustaka Museum is open on all days of the week except o Monday. Generally the museum is open from 8 am to 1 pm, but then on Friday the museum is open from 8 am to 11 am.

Kraton Kasunanan Surakarta Hadiningrat

galuh — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:12:57 +0000

Kraton Kasunanan Surakarta Hadiningrat or the Kasunanan Royal Palace is one of the main features of Solo. The Palace, with its rare architectural typology, covers a vast area, consisting of Alun-alun Lor (the North Square), Alun-alun Kidul (the South Square) and the palace itself . The royal family of Kasunananan Surakarta still lives here, and so does King Pakubuwono XIII, a descendent of the late King Pakubowono I. Some of the buildings are private residential areas for the royal family, but some have been developed and managed as tourism areas. We can visit the museum that displays many interesting royal items such as weapons, clothes, tools and even horse carts that some are occasionally still used until today. The palace is highly recommended to be visited for its cultural-historical value, and its exotic architectural facades.