Ullen Sentalu is a private museum located in Kaliurang (roughly 25.6km from Yogyakarta city centre and only 3km from Merapi volcano museum) displaying paintings and artefacts from the royal Javanese families of Yogyakarta and Solo.

The name Ullen Sentalu is an acronym formed from the following Javanese words: ULating bLENcong, SEjatiNing TAtaraning LUmaku (translated: the light of true life guiding one’s life journey).

Visitors are not allowed to take photographs in the various exhibition rooms (due to copyright issues) but are allowed to use their camera in selected areas of the museum complex.

Although this was a little frustrating (as I would love to have captured images of the different exhibits - many of which were varied and delightful to engage with) I also respected why the museum chose to enforce this policy. In an era where anything and everything can be digitised, shared online/downloaded and, in many cases, outright stolen it makes sense to protect your investment as far as possible - particularly when many of the items featured there are originals.

Visitors are assigned tour guides and the museum is divided into a number of areas, each featuring exhibits grouped under specific categories (I.e. Batik room). I believe that the different areas of the museum were as follows:

1. Ruang Selamat Datang (Welcome Room)

2. Ruang Seni Tari & Gamelan (Dance and Gamelan Room)

3. Goa Gelo Giri (Gelo Giri Cave)

4. Koridor Retja Landa (Retja Landa Isle)

5. Ruang Budaya dan Kampung Kembang (Culture Room and Floral Village)

6. Ratu Mas  (Royal Room)

7. Ruang Syair untuk Tineke (Poetry for Tineke Room)

8. Ruang Batik Vorstendlanden ( Vorstendlanden Batik Room)

9. Ruang Batik Pesisiran (Pesisiran Batik Room)

10. Ruang Putri Dambaan (The Room of the Desired Princess)

The welcome room is where all visitors wait, after purchasing their ticket, to be assigned a tour guide. In this area you will see sculptures and information on various events held at the museum and, if you are lucky with the timing of your visit, the possibility of witnessing a dance workshop taking place in the outside courtyard.

The various exhibition rooms feature a variety of artefacts, costumes, batiks and paintings relating to the Javanese Royal family with the tour guide explaining the history and cultural background relating to these. The paintings of various sultans and figures from the Royal household are quite grand and contain many stories behind the figures depicted.

Of all the exhibition areas of the museum I found the poetry for Tineke room the most fascinating and moving. This exhibit consisted of over 30 letters and poems sent to Princess Tineke by friends and family members during the 1930’s and 40’s offering guidance, uplifting messages and even jokes to help her deal with her love for a man that her family disapproved of.

The letter from one uncle which used the example of a hippopotamus to convey a certain 'lesson' was hilarious and it was fascinating to see that there was a playfulness and quirkiness in people from that era as well as being offered a retrospective window into how they too struggled with the universal themes of love, loss, loneliness and emotional hardship.

Of all the rooms I visited that is the one where I wish I could have taken photographs. The letters were so beautiful, offering sage advice (with good humour in parts) and rich with love and concern for the princess and her dilemma that it was difficult to leave there. I could have happily spent another half an hour reading through all of those letters as they were so wonderful to engage with and absorb their words.

This was then followed by 2 separate batik rooms which depicted the separate and unique batik designs for costumes used by the different royal households. Your guide will test you on the batik patterns and their background so pay attention here!

The final exhibition area I remember visiting was the room of the desired princess which was dedicated to the memory of Gusti Nurul. There were photographs of the princess that spanned her entire life and I quickly understood why this was named the room of the desired princess as her beauty was indeed captivating with the tour guide informing me that many powerful men, including Soekarno, the first President of Indonesia, had sought her hand in marriage.

She was reported to have been something of a progressive for her era as she opposed polygamy (which was regarded as customary within the royal palace), rode horses and motorbikes in addition to attending International events and conferences.

During the late 1930’s she performed a traditional Javanese dance at the wedding of the daughter of the queen of the Netherlands reportedly as a gift from the Mangkunegaran Palace. Queen Wilhelmina was so impressed with Gusti’s dance and personality that she nicknamed her 'De Bloem van Mangkunegaran', or 'The Mangkunegaran Flower’.

To see and learn of all this it was therefore somewhat saddening to be informed that she had died in 2015 at the age of 94. Yet here were all these photographs serving as testaments to her time in this world; moments from years gone by preserving her captivating beauty, images where she will never grow old and succumb to the passage of time. How to reconcile the strength and ferocity of life that burns inside with the passing of the years? How to make sense of the human lifetime when it appears little more than the blink of an eye in cosmic terms? The paradox of human life; to be alive yet moving closer to death with each passing day never fails to impress itself upon me.

This was particularly so when visiting the room of the desired princess.

Sleep well dear Gusti.

Prior to wrapping up the tour the guide brought me to a communal area, where other museum visitors were sat, to sample a homemade tea containing secret ingredients that were purported to preserve youth and beauty. This appeared to contain ginger and cinnamon amongst other ingredients and served as a fitting end to what was an interesting and highly engaging museum tour.

Once the tour has finished visitors are allowed to take photographs of the area leading up to the exit; which is filled with ornate sculptures and beautifully landscaped grounds with various water features.

This Javanese relief sculpture is situated in the courtyard immediately outside the museum building but be warned, you might have to wait for various visitors and their selfie-taking to disperse before you can get a photograph!

Interestingly the grounds of the museum, immediately leading up to the exit gate, features all manner of sculptures like the following pieces:

I got the impression that many of these sculptures, which appear almost as afterthoughts in what looks like a random, untended garden area, are not really for visitor consumption due to their seeming distance from the path and placement.

This suggested to me at least that they are either resting in their respective locations awaiting storage or are possibly situated there for the private consumption of the residents of the museum (there is a house in the grounds of the museum where I was informed by a member of staff that the owner and their family reside).

Nearby to this sculpture 'area' is a man-made garden/workshop area featuring many beautiful sculptures and water features:

During my time in this part of the museum grounds I was met by a member of staff and guided to the exit as I hadn't realised that I wasn't supposed to be wandering around that part of the complex!

Whoops.

This wasn't signposted and I honestly didn't know that this was considered off-limits to visitors so for anyone reading this article - please don't make the same mistake that I did!

If you’re visiting Yogyakarta definitely consider Ullen Sentalu as one of your go-to destinations as the museum provides a very unique and detailed insight into Javanese history. I respect the museum policy on no-photography as a means of preserving their cultural heritage as this allows them to showcase many original artefacts including sculptures, paintings, batiks, musical instruments and letters without suffering any potential copyright infringements. The exhibits displayed here help inform visitors, both Indonesian and foreign, as to the history of that region of Java and are particularly valuable to Indonesians looking to preserve and celebrate their unique history.

Getting there

Apparently Ullen Sentalu can be reached via public transport but this involves changing buses and negotiating waiting times for the services involved (which was too time-consuming and troublesome for my liking) due to the museum’s semi-remote location.

Your best bet, aside from having Indonesian friends who might be willing to drive there and accompany you for a day out (lucky if you do!), is to use a taxi service instead. When in Yogyakarta and the surrounding region I relied on the GoCar app as this taxi service is widely available and the fares are displayed up front at booking time.

Fees

Entry to the museum costs 100,000 Indonesian rupiah for non-Indonesians like myself (which is actually quite cheap when exchanged into pound sterling or US dollars) and, as is typical with many tourist attractions in Indonesia, offered at a much cheaper rate for Indonesian visitors.

I personally have no problem with this split rate for foreigners/locals as I have been led to understand that, on average, Indonesian wages are far lower than, for example, their Western counterparts due to the relative weakness of their currency.

The way I look at it with the greater spending power I get when converted into Indonesian rupiah it’s no hardship to pay a higher rate (which is still cheaper than a comparatively similar tourist site in my home country) especially if that allows me to see some fantastic locations and help support their preservation too.