Introduction to Central Java (Yogyakarta)

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CENTRAL JAVA (YOGYAKARTA)

Traveling through Central Java is a treat, whether takes the northern route with its little fishing towns, teakwood forests and old historical sites, or through the southern cool green hillside country and rich cultural centers.

Central Java's history and influence during its Hindu and Buddhist periods are pretty well known to most travelers who come to visit this province. Less widely known, although of great importance to the history of Java, is the fact that Central Java was the site of the first Moslem kingdom on the island from which the new creed spreads over Java. Founded in 1511 by Raden Patah, the Sultanate of Demak destroyed the successors of the already weakened Hindu kingdoms to firmly establish Islam in Java. Demak is now a little town much visited by Javanese pilgrims but less often by tourists. Its old glory, however, has been immortalized in the town's famed Grand Mosque said to have been built by one of the first nine Moslem evangelists in Java. The

building shows a quaint blend of Hindu and Islamic styles of architecture.

One spectacle too often missed by travelers in the Dieng Plateau. Passing deep mountain valleys, coffee, tea and tobacco plantations, one finally comes to the ruggedly magnificent landscape of the plateau and the bubbling volcanic crater of Condrodimuko. Dieng's rugged majesty underlined by the presence of a few of the starkest Shivaist temples of Java lies at an elevation of more than 6,000 feet.

In complete contrast is the enchanting beauty of the Kledung pass to the South of the plateau. And of an entirely different nature is the mood of the teakwood forests in the limestone hills of the Kendeng Mountain. Range in the north. Captivating as the landscape is, even more noteworthy are the temples of Central Java. The most famous worldwide is perhaps Borobudur, a Buddhist sanctuary built in the ninth Century. The shrine has the world's largest and most complete collection of Buddhist relives. The walls of its seven terraces rising up on the Great Stupa are carved with Buddhist art. Borobudur's lovely hillside location is quiet and serene.