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History of Tugu Yogyakarta

History of Tugu Yogyakarta

25 Aug 2013 07:42:00

Many people believe that when coming to Yogyakarta, it’snot complete if you don’t visit Tugu Yogyakarta. This monument is a historic building located right at the centre of the intersection between Pangeran Mangkubumi Street, Jendral Sudirman Street, A.M. Sangaji Street and Diponegoro Street and it’s nearly three centuries old. Aside from being a symbol of Yogyakarta, this monument also has an imaginary axis between the South Sea, Yogyakarta Palace and Mount Merapi. It also deals with the magical bond between the three sites.

Tugu Yogyakarta was built by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono I in 1755. At first, this Golong-Gilig shaped and has a height of 25 meters, where the pillars of this monument was Gilig shaped (cylindrical) and the peak was peak Golong shaped (round), so that at the time this monument was called as Tugu Golong-Gilig. At the beginning of the construction of this monument, the monument meant Manunggaling Kawula Gusti which describes the spirit of unity between the people and the authorities in the fight against the invaders. But on the other hand, it could also be significant as the relationship between man and the Creator.

On June 10th, 1867, a great earthquake shook the city and resulting the monument collapsed. And then in 1889, this monument began to be fixed by the Dutch government done by Opzichter  van Waterstaat or Head of Department of Public Works, JWS van Brussel under the supervision of Pepatih Dalem Kanjeng Raden Adipati Danurejo V by doing a little renovation to this monument. The the monument was built with a square shape where the peak is no longer round but tapered conical. Each side of the building was also decorated with some sort of memorial inscriptions indicating who was involved in the renovation process. Not only that, the building which previously was 25 meters high was initially made only as high as fifteen meters. This monument was inaugurated by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono VII on October 3rd, 1889. Since then, this monument was called by the name of De Witt Paal or Tugu Putih (White Monument).

Tugu Yogyakarta is now getting more beautiful with small gardens that adorn the area around the monument. In addition to adding beauty, this park is also intended to keep visitors to not arbitrarily go up the monument and littering this historic buildings.

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