Descriptive Text: Kotagede Yogyakarta

Example of Descriptive Text

Kotagede/Kutagede

            Kotagede or Kutagede is a kecamatan (term for sub-district in Indonesia) in Yogyakarta City, Special Region of Yogyakarta. It is located in the southest part of the city. That makes the border between Yogyakarta and Bantul lies on the edge of this sub-district. This place is famous for its silver-based jewelry industries. That fact gives a calling to this place Kota Perak; Silver City in English. Beside the silver industry, lately this place gets attention from street photographer for its attractive corners for photo-hunting.

            The beginning of this place’s history is started as the place was well-known as a forest at the eastern of Gajah Wong River. It’s called The Mentaok Forest. About the last years on 16^th century, a courtier from Islamic Kingdom of Pajang named Ki Ageng Pemanahan was given this forest as a reward due to his success in taking down rebellions by the Kingdom’s Ruler. Later on, he and his son, Danang Sutawijaya, got rid of the forest and make it into a settlement. He named it ‘Mataram’ and got the tilte Ki Gede Mataram, The Lord of Mataram. This is the earliest story of how Mataram Kingdom was born. After several years, this place became the first capital city of Mataram Kingdom in the Danang Sutawijaya regiment. Then, the name of this city changed into Kotagede.

            Now, it has become one of the central silver industry in Java Island since 30s. But, the tradition of making silver craft in this place had begun since the beginning of the Mataram Kingdom. There are so many active silversmiths who are still active in what they are good at. The most famed product of this industry is hand-made jewelries such as necklaces and rings. The other products from the industry are sculptures, miniatures, hand-beaten bowls, and many more. We can always see that the motives on every work includes floral type, like leaf or lotus flower. That has been the identity of Kotagede’s silver craft since long time ago.

            For the last but not least, Kotagede is one of the ‘must place to go to’ if you love taking pictures, especially the one who loves street photography. There are a lot spots and objects to be taken all over the place. The spots with the most frequency of people coming by are: Traditional Market of Kotagede, Fort Ruins from the colonial era, Tomb of the Mataram Kings, and of course the streets of Kotagede itself.