Sixty-five
kilometres northeast of Yogya stands quiet, leafy low-rise Surakarta,
or, as it's more commonly known, Solo. This is the older of
the two royal cities in Central Java, and its ruling family
can lay claim to being the rightful heirs to the Mataram dynasty.
Like Yogya, Solo has two royal palaces and a number of museums,
yet its tourist industry is nowhere near as developed. The city's
main source of income is from textiles, and Solo has the biggest
batik market on Java. Solo also makes an ideal base from which
to visit the home of Java Man at Sangiran, as well as the intriguing
temples Candi Ceto and Candi Sukuh.
Up
until 1744, Solo was little more than a quiet backwater village,
10km east of Kartasura, the contemporary capital of the Mataram
kingdom. But in that year the Mataram susuhunan, Pakubuwono
II, backed the Chinese against the Dutch, and the court at Kartasura
was sacked as a result. Pakubuwono II searched for a more auspicious
spot to rebuild his capital, and in 1757 a rival royal house
of Mangkunegoro was established right in the centre of Solo.
Thereafter, Solo's royal houses wisely avoided fighting and
instead threw their energies into the arts, developing a highly
sophisticated and graceful court culture. The gamelan pavilions
became the new theatres of war, with each city competing to
produce the more refined court culture - a situation that continues
to this day.
