CULTURE MAKES YOGYA DIFFERENCE

Culture The province of Yogyakarta with its status as a special region lies in the Southern part of Central Java, in the heartland of Javanese culture. As the former capital and the center of several kingdoms in the past, this region and its people are very rich in a variety of cultures. It is widely known from to historical records that the civilization, art and culture had developed well in the center of those kingdoms respectively in the era of the Ancient Mataram Kingdom (8th - 10th Century) the second Mataram Kingdom (17th - 18th Century) and Sultanate Ngayogyokarto from the mid of 18th Century up today.

It can be mentioned here that the cultural heritage in the past are the magnificent temples, the ruins of palaces and monasteries, the various kind of traditions cultural events, traditional folk performing arts, traditional ritual ceremonies, customs, traditional handicrafts, traditional architecture and other traditional activities. Most of them still exist and are coloring the daily activities of life and behavior of the local inhabitants, particularly the Javanese community with its traditional way of life and customs. Because of its richness in culture therefore Yogyakarta has been known for long as the cradle of the Javanese culture.

The Kraton Ngayogyokarto Hadiningrat (the Sultan's Palace) at the present being is known as a center of Javanese art and culture activities. Generally the community of Javanese people still respect their Sultan and are proud of the aristocratic influence of the Sultanate court. The name of the Sultan holds a special significance for all Yogyanese evoking the traditional Javanese aristocrat. As a cradle of the Javanese culture, various art activities still flourish here. There are many traditional events and ceremonies that have been hold regularly such as Sekaten, Grebegan, Labuhan and others.

A lot of traditional art and performances can be found with its daily program of cultural presentations, such as The Ramayana Ballet, Javanese Classical Dance, The Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet play), the Ketoprak (folk drama) and others. Not less interesting are also the old traditional rites of the esoteric custom kept alive by the people, particularly by village inhabitants. In respect of modern art. Yogyakarta excels with a dozen of art galleries and studios of Indonesia's prominent painters, sculptors, modern batik designers and choreographers.

The educational institutions of art and craft both provided by state or private are available here, such as Indonesia Institute of Art, the Conservatorium of Classical Javanese Music and Dance, some of art foundations, art exercise and rehearsals etc. The richness in variations are that this city has in store is one of many aspects that makes Yogyakarta is a city of endless wonder and fascination.