De Vorstenlanden ( Ullen Sentalu Museum ) - English

 

De Vorstenlanden  ( Ullen Sentalu Museum )

In the good weather and long weekend, I had a time to visit Museum Ullen Sentalu. Its personal Museum who belong to the member of Yogyakarta royal family who loved arts. It located in 

Pakem, Sleman Region, D.I.Yogyakarta. Because I live in Yogyakarta so is not that far from where I live. It took approximately 30 minutes with motorcycle. My friend and I arrived around 9.30 in the morning. We queued to get our tickets. They offered 2 tour for this Museum visit. The first one is Adiluhung Mataram Tour that cost 50.000 IDR for 40 minutes tour and the second one is Vorstenlanden Tour that cost 100.000 IDR for 50 minutes tour plus coffee break. After long consideration, finally we choose an Adiluhung Mataram Tour. 

                                                   

As we entered the registration room, the staffs asked us to wait for 15 minutes for our guide and pleased us to take a picture before begin our tour. Because camera or phone are prohibited during the tour. We took severals picture before the staff called us because we need to start our tour soon. 

Our tour guide for todays tour is Mbak Tiwi. She explains the tour regulation first. Our Adiluhung Mataram Tour will take us into the history of Mataram Islam along with the culture and arts. We were divided into 15 person in one group tour. We entered the first room where is the underground room full of Gamelan and severals portrait and paintings. The Gamelan itself was a traditional instrumental ensemble in Java and Bali, including many bronze percussion instruments.

Then the tour continue to the history of Royal lineage, who sat on the throne for the first until now. Too many beautiful portrait and stories as well as the awesome knowledge we got from this tour. After this first room, we went to the room next to the beautiful waterfall and naturelike atmosphere. The room for the traditional clothes from colonial era until the modern era. And how the fashion grew from traditional Kebaya into modern Kebaya with the European’s taste. And it come really pretty for me. From the velvet then elevated into the modern Kebaya we used to see in this Era. 

After that, we went into the Vorstenlanden room, vorstenlanden means Land of the Kings ( Tanah para Raja )  it explained about the history from the Royal Family member. The one story that took our enthusiasm was the Letter Room, this room is belong to the Marieke Princess she was the youngest princess in the Royal Family members at that time who was in grief because her deep broken heart. She got all the letters from all the friends and the others family members to cheered her up. And all the letters mostly were written in Dutch and were translated into 3 languages ( Indonesian, English and Chinese ). And our favourite letter was in the number 20 that given by G.R.A Noeroel Kusumawardhani, she wrote “De vrouwen zijn de Natie pijler, als de Vrouwen gebroken zijn, doet de Natie dat ook” it means that The Women are the nation’s pillar, if the Women are broken so does the Nation. 

Then come to the last tour and it will be the most favourite tour for almost of the visitor here. The dreamy Princess room ( Ruang Putri Dambaan ). The room that belong to G.R.A Noeroel Kusumawardhani ( The princess from the East ) because she was from the Surakarta Royal Family. She has been drawing my attention since I was in college because of her awesomeness. She got all the things that most of women dreamt of, a beautiful face, a smart brain, a good attitude, she was the most fluently Princess who can speaks most of the languages back then and the most important thing she was a Royal Princess. Who can resist her ? She was Perfect. At the age of 15 years old, she got the invitation from Queen Wilhelmina to dance a traditional dance in her daughter's Princess Juliana wedding at Noordeinde Palace Netherlands and Gamelan music was played through Soloche Radio Vereeniging (RRI) from Surakarta Palace. Many famous figure has asked her out to become their wives. Let me name 3 whose the famous figures, Hamengku Buwono IX, Sultan Syahrir and Ir. Soekarno. But she turned down the proposal because she wants to be the only woman in her future husband. What a wonderful thoughts. And finally she got married with her close cousin R.M Soerjo Soejarso at 30 years old. Her principal also proved that she was the rational woman in that era. This room visit has ended our Adiluhung Mataram Tour. We said thank you and goodbye for our today’s tour guide. 

After we were going out, there were a photo spot that allowed us to take a pictures. Because it was a long weekend the place was too crowded. We took severals pictures and going back home with a blessing minds and hearts. 

Tips :

• Wear a comfortable clothes during your visit

• Do not come on long holiday, it will be very crowded

• It will be nice if you can visit in the early open time ( the Museum open at 8:30 A.M )

Sincerely,

Elviera