To be honest, I never heard about this place before. I first found out about Ullen Sentalu Museum when I was planning an itinerary to Jogjakarta with some friends. When I googled about Jogjakarta, there was a nice picture of a gate that looks like a place I've visit before in Melbourne called Monsalvat. Turns out that the gate in the picture was part of Ullen Sentalu property. There weren't much information I got from google about Ullen Sentalu Museum. This was probably because the privacy regulation applied on the area of museum.
Ullen Sentalu Museum located one hour away from Jogjakarta city center. It was in a highland area called Kaliurang. I'm not really sure about public transportation that can be used to reach the museum, but rent a car might be a better option, or share Uber if you go with some friends. Once you reach the place you will see a contemporary style building as the entrance of museum area. The ticket to enter the museum cost IDR 50.000 for local tourist and might cost more for international tourist. After you get the ticket, you need to wait at their holding room for museum-tour schedule to start. The holding room itself is in the same room where you buy your ticket, and no need to worry of getting bored waiting, because it only takes couple of minutes until the tour started. Besides there are some art installation on the holding room that you can enjoy while waiting. Oh and a bit of information, due to the privacy regulation, every visitors has to join the tour and are not allowed to explore the museum by themselves.
The museum contains of gamelan collection, photographs and painting of Keraton Royal Family and also personal stuff that belongs to several former Kings and Queens of Jogjakarta. What most valuable in the museum is the story of Keraton Royal Family that probably never told before no where except inside the museum. The story were told fluently during this approximately an hour museum tour by the tour guide. My favorite part of the museum are areas which dedicated for Putri Tineke and for Ratu Mas. The room for Princess Tineke or as we called Putri Tineke shows poems or letters from friends and colleague to cheer up the princess who had a heartbreak because of her forbidden love. The letters were written in Indonesia or in Dutch, and I think the letters are too beautiful not to be published as a book or shared through internet. The second area of the museum that I love is the room dedicated for Queen Mas or as we called Ratu Mas. This room shows the queen's dresses, batik and also hat collection which she got directly from Netherlands. I can imagine Ratu Mas as a fashionable queen at that time. Unfortunately, taking picture is strictly prohibited inside the museum, so I could not show you any of the collections.
After the tour finished, we were served with a glass of traditional drink or so called Jamu that made using Ratu Mas's secret recipe. It is believe that Jamu Ratu Mas will make the one who drinks it look younger.
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| do we look younger already? |
Ullen Sentalu Museum is a very nice place to enjoy, and luckily you are still allowed to take picture outside the museum. As the museum itself told us, "what would a journey be without documentation" , right?
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| tilted stone as the icon of Ullen Sentalu Museum, symbolized the world that becoming more "tilted" on morals and appreciation on culture and history |
Ullen Sentalu also has a restaurant and boutique to offer to complete your visit there. Beukenhof, a restaurant located on the second floor of one of the museum building, offers you both Western and Indonesian food in a colonial ambiance. Pick a table outside to have your coffee or meal with a garden view.
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| view from Beukenhof balcony |
when in Jogjakarta, dont forget to come to Ullen Sentalu Museum
a place worth to visit !
thanks for reading
salam,
wulan
