Destinations
Solo Immersion Te x t & I m a g e s b y J U H A N K A M A R U D D I N
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The city of Solo, formally addressed as Surakarta, is an off-shoot of the Mataram Sultanate and was founded almost three hundred years ago. It is small in scale but big in culture and heritage, ideal for a relaxing getaway; as a matter of fact, Solo gets busy during weekends because it receives trippers from the surrounding regions and nearby cities. It also comes alive with various forms of traditional performing arts like keroncong (folk music performed by an ensemble comprising ukulele, cello, guitar, bass, violin and flute), wayang (traditional Javanese play composed of dancing, vocals and characters from Mahabharata and Ramayana epics) and ketoprak (stage performance involving drama, music and literature based on history or legend). Tip: If you use the train to come to and depart from Solo, it is better to stay somewhere close to the Purwosari railway station like Harris Hotel Solo (https://www.harrishotels. com/en-us/HARRIS-Solo) or Pop Hotel Solo (https:// www.pophotels.com/en-us/Pick-a-POP!/Solo). Harris Hotel Solo is the first ever Harris Hotel (https://www. harrishotels.com/en-us/) to opt the new generation look.
Batik city Surakarta is popular among shoppers seeking products and crafts that are rich in heritage and ingenuity, especially batik, which is rich in philosophy, meaning and identity; beautiful and timeless batik motifs are believed to bring out the wearer’s charisma, while attracting positive energy at the same time.
There are two villages in Solo that are internationally renowned for batik: Kauman and Laweyan. Regarding the latter, the village is known to have existed since 1546 A.D. and spans 24 hectares squared, inhabited by batik merchants and traders for generations, who open batik atelier and showroom right at their own homes. Due to the community’s affluence, houses in Laweyan are generally palatial – characterised by two main pillars at the entrance, denoting European influence – since they need to simultaneously accommodate residential quarters and batik workshop. One of the best places to witness a Laweyan house is Ndalem Gondosuli (www.ndalemgondosuli.com), an elegantly conserved two-storey Art Deco building with embellishments signifying batik motifs. The building even comes with an ancient bunker, a typical feature for defence and security back in the period when it was built in 1921. The house now contains meeting rooms, art space, batik workshop, showroom, digital media museum, lounge, and praying room, suitable for travellers coming in groups. Ndalem Gondosuli intends to conserve the skills, workmanship and devotion towards the production of authentic Laweyan batik since this craft embodies high aesthetic value, besides being an essential part of Javanese heritage. Travellers’ brush with batik in Solo does not stop at Kauman or Laweyan villages; they should also head to the largest batik museum in South East Asia, Danar Hadi Batik Museum, where travellers are taken back in time to see how batik evolved over the ages through its collection of over 1,000 resplendent batik pieces procured from Indonesia and around the world, all belonging to the successful batik business owner, Santosa Doellah and wife Danarsih Hadipriyono. The museum – located inside the House of Danar Hadi (http://houseofdanarhadi. co.id/index.php) – assesses old batiks too by determining the era they belong to and how much they are currently worth.
