Yogyakarta ( or , ; also
Jogja,
Jogjakarta) is a city in the
Yogyakarta Special Region,
Indonesia. It is renowned as a centre of classical
Javanese fine art and culture such as
batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the
Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to 1949.
Orientation
The area of the city of Yogyakarta is 32.5 km². While the city spreads in all directions from the
kraton (the Sultan's palace), the core of the modern city is to the north, centring around
Dutch colonial-era buildings and the commercial district.
Jalan Malioboro, with rows of pavement vendors and nearby market and malls, is the primary shopping street for tourists in the city, while Jalan Solo, further north, is a shopping district more frequented by locals. At the southern end of Malioboro, on the east side is the large local market of Beringharjo, not far from
Fort Vredeburg a restored Dutch fort.
At Yogyakarta's centre is the
kraton, or Sultan's palace. Surrounding the kraton is a densely populated residential neighbourhood that occupies land that was formerly the Sultan's sole domain. Evidence of this former use remains in the form of old walls and the ruined
Taman Sari, built in 1758 as a pleasure garden. No longer used by the sultan, the garden had been largely abandoned. For a time, it was used for housing by palace employees and descendants. Reconstruction efforts began in 2004, and an effort to...
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