New map helps to promote cultural heritage

New map helps to promote cultural heritage

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Touring inside Yogyakarta Palace's fortress or Jeron Beteng as it
is popularly called, is now more enriching and easier than ever,
thanks to the recently launched Jogja Jeron Beteng Heritage
Trail.

The 20-page folding pocket-sized map displays four different
maps of the Jeron Beteng area and is rich with information about
local heritage sites, ruins and buildings.

The map, for example, explains how the Yogyakarta Palace had
developed housing complexes in Jeron Beteng area and then named
each of them either after a particular prince who had once lived
at the complex, or the expertise of the palace's abdi dalem
(servants) or the palace landmarks.

Suryaputran, for example, was named because it was where
Prince Suryaputra once lived. Musikanan, likewise, used to be the
housing complex for the palace musicians. While Nagan was a place
in the palace's Tamansari Water Castle where a naga (or dragon)
statue was built.

The map reveals there are some 40 heritage places worth
visiting in Jeron Beteng. This information might come as surprise
to many, especially because most people only know of Yogyakarta
Palace and Tamansari Water Catsle.

A 150-year-old traditional house on Siliran, Dalem Mangkubumen
which is now being used as the campus of Widya Mataram
University; Dalem Joyokusuman where tourists can enjoy a royal
gala dinner; old mosques; Ngasem traditional market; and museums
are among the recommended places to visit.

Laretna T. Adishakti, chairman of the Jogja Heritage Society
(JHS), which co-launched the map, said the map's launching was
aimed at promoting Jeron Beteng area's rich history, displayed in
its traditional buildings, historical sites, natural and
artificial environments along with its cultural performances and
arts.

The map itself, she said, was the result of two years of
research conducted by JHS activists. The activists conducted at
least nine tryouts of Jeron Beteng's heritage trails involving
various groups, including school and university students as well
as foreign tourists.

So it comes as no surprise that the map also provides five
alternative routes for the Jeron Beteng heritage trail. The
recommended routes, between three and eight hours by traditional
horse-ridden carriage andong or on foot, are equipped with
information about which sites can be visited and which ones are
only passed by. Two of the suggested routes, which require only a
three-hour-trip, are recommended for children.

"The map is basically made to guide anyone wanting to track
down the cultural heritage of Jeron Beteng on their own, without
needing the help of a tour guide," said Sita, as Laretna is
better known, at the sidelines of the map's launch at Dalem
Kaneman -- one of the few remaining old buildings in Jeron
Beteng, on Jl. Kadipaten.

It was also for the same reason that a number of standing
placards, information boards and sign boards -- written in
Indonesian and English, in Latin and in braille -- were placed at
a number of sites in Jeron Beteng. Video compact discs and the
website, jogjapusaka.or.id, are also available for anyone wanting
to learn more about Jeron Beteng's cultural heritage.

According to Sita, one of the other reasons for publishing the
map was to provide the community a media to help them improve
their appreciation of cultural heritage, thus helping to preserve
the city's cultural heritage.

The works were jointly produced by JHS with the support of
other similar non-governmental organizations including the Center
for Heritage Conservation of Gadjah Mada University's School of
Architecture, Senthir and AusHeritage (Australia), and financial
aid from the American Express Foundation.

The map is scheduled to be officially launched on Sept. 1,
2002. The soft launching, according to Sita, was mainly aimed at
looking for more feedback from the community in an effort to
improve the map.

Other interesting information in the map includes explanation
of the palace's fortress, known as Beteng Baluwrti, that
previously surrounded the entire palace complex. Unfortunately,
the three-meter thick fortress, which was originally five
kilometers long now only measures 600 meters. The rest has been
mostly turned into housing.

Tourists can reach what remains of the fortress and walk on it
to get different views by climbing up the stairs on either side
of Plengkung Gadhing gate, just a few meters south of the
palace's southern square, Alun-alun Selatan. They can also climb
up similar stairs built on the inside part of the southeast
bastion, or Pojok Beteng Wetan-Kidul as it was popularly known.

Beteng Baluwarti, built in the 1780s, originally had five
plengkung (gates) that connected the palace with the outside
world. Each of the gates had its separate name and function.
However, only four of them remain.

"I'm a native of Yogyakartan, but to be frank this is the
first time I have climbed onto the fortress," said a participant
of Jogja Jeron Beteng Heritage Trail, which JHS organized ahead
of the map's launching.