Sonobudoyo Museum

"Sonobudoyo Museum, Admiring the Keris Collection"

Around 1,200 keris from all parts of Indonesia can be seen in Sonobudoyo Museum. They range from the keris from Yogyakarta, Solo, Madura, to the only one from Kalimantan (it is called Mandau) and Sulawesi or celebes.

Visiting Sonobudoyo Museum is an alternative to see keris and other related items to it from all parts of Indonesia. The museum which keeps keris and mostly are donated by Java Institute) will satisfy your curiosity about keris since the Kingdom of Yogyakarta. This kingdom keeps sacred keris which does not allow the public to see its keris collections.

Sonobudoyo Museum is within easy to reach from Yogyakarta Kingdom; it is located across the North Square of Yogyakarta. In order to see various kinds of keris, you have to go through quite long procedures because you have to get permission from the chief of museum officer. This is because many of the keris collection are still kept in the collection room and they are not shown to public.

The first thing you will see that is related to keris is wesi budha (Buddha Iron); it is the main material to make keris that was used in around the year 700s AD, or during the triumphant of Hindu Mataram Kingdom. Wesi Budha can be seen in the middle room that also keeps some collections of the triumphant of Buddhism civilization in Indonesia. In addition to the wesi budha, there are various household furnishings, weapons and handicrafts of the same period.

Entering further, you can see some keris, even though the number is relatively small. Some of the exposed keris are straight keris, keris with 7 curves, 11 curves and 13 curves. Most of the keris displayed in this room are those from Jave. In addition to the keris, batik cloths with different patterns are kept there.

Another room behind the library of the museum, displays more types of keris. The museum attendant explained that the room keeps various kinds of keris from all parts of Indonesia and it keeps collection of accessories such as pendok of Yogyakarta and Solo and the keris blade. More collection originates from outside of Yogyakarta since there was prohibition to collect keris with the quantity exceeding those of the collection of Yogyakarta Kingdom.

The Javanese keris kept in the museum are those with 7, 11, 13 curves or called luk and straight keris with various pamor (pattern), such as beras wutah / the spoiled rice (pamor that was accidentally resulted from the forging process, in the form of connection circles), sekar pakis (in the form of the fins flower) and so on. The keris from outside of Java that are kept there are, among others: the unique rencong Aceh, mandau from Kalimantan, keris from Madura and Bali, and keris from Sulawesi or Celebes.

In that collection room, you can also see many old keris handles with interesting designs. There are keris handles in the forms of human head, human full posture, dragon, lion, and so on. There are hundreds of pendok that are classified into two categories, namely Yogyakarta and Solo styles. Different from the keris handles with various designs, the shapes of pendok are relatively the same.

Superiority :

The officer of the museum  are friendly and welcome, and the information about the museum is well informed
They have an interesting design of the museum
They have disable track
They have information office
The map building is clear
They have electronic guide
They have a lot of air conditioners
They have alarm fire and temperature control
The enlightment of the museum is clear
They have CCTV
The interesting music background
They have a good concept of diorama tour
The explanation on the exhibit are multi language
The exhibit and the museum is clean

Deficiency :

Tourist need to pay more money for taking pictures inside the museum
There is only one toilet, and it is no signed the toilet is for female or male
Guide is not included in the ticket
There is less garbage can in the museum
The caption in the museum  are unclear

Address:

Jl. Trikora No. 6 Yogyakarta

Phone:

+62 274 418330

Opening Hours:

• Tuesday - Thursday
  Visiting hours: 07.00 a.m. to 14.30 p.m.
• Friday
  Visiting hours: 07.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.
• Saturday - Sunday
  Visiting hours: 07.30 a.m. to 13.00 p.m.

Admission fee:

Child and Adult IDR 3.000

Website:
Sonobudoyo Museum