Kotagede

Kotagede is a neat little town located 5 kilometers southeast Yogyakarta/Jogja.

This area once was the capital of Islamic Mataram Kingdom in the middle of XVI century, where later on it was divide into two kingdoms; Kesunanan Surakarta dan Kesultanan Yogyakarta.Kotagede is also well known for its silverwork industry. In this area, there are a lot of silver craft workshops and galleries. There are several workshops that let visitors learn and watch silver being transformed into beautiful art works.

One of Islamic Mataram Kingdom archeological remain we can still find until nowadays is the royal cemetery complex. In that cemetery complex we can still visit the cemetery of the Mataram kings, like Panembahan Senopati’s, the founder of Mataram Kingdom.

There is also unique tomb of Ki Ageng Mangir. Ki Ageng Mangir was Panembahan Senopati son in law and Panembahan Senopati enemy at the same time. Ki Ageng Mangir body was buried in a unique way, half of his body buried inside of the special area for kings, and a half of his body was buried outside of the complex. You can also find a stone called “Watu Gilang”, believed to be a stone on witch Panembahan Senopati used to smash Ki Ageng Mangir head to death.

Since 1930’s, however, Kotagede has become famous for being the centre of the Yogya silverwork industry. Hundreds of Kotagede citizens make their living out of silverwork. Many kind of silverwork are being produce here, such as ring, earring, necklace, brooch, miniature of bicycle, pedicab, andhong, ships, etc. Along Kotagede Main Street, we can easily find galleries and shops with ‘perak’ and ‘silver’ on its advertisement boards.

Kotagede silverwork is well known for its unique, detail, and high quality. It’s even being exported to several developed countries.

Prices of these silverworks are quite varied; depend on the details and the amount of silver being use. Start from the cheapest, brooch, Rp 10.000 (around US $ 1), silver ring, Rp 100.000 (around US $ 10), andhong miniature, Rp 250.000 (US $ 25), to tens of million rupiah. It is wise thing to do to compare the price of one shop with others before you decided to purchase.

image: trulyjogja.com