Yogyakarta (also Jogja, Yogya, Jogjakarta) is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a center of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. It is also famous as a center for Indonesian higher education. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to 1949.The area of the city of Yogyakarta is 32.5 km². While the city sprawls in all directions from the kraton, the core of the modern city is to the north, centering around the site of a few buildings with distinctive Dutch colonial-era architecture and the contemporary commercial district. Jalan Malioboro, with rows of sidewalk vendors and nearby market and malls, is the primary shopping street for tourists in the city, while Jalan Solo, further north, is a shopping district more frequented by locals. At the southern end of Malioboro, on the east side is the large local market of Beringharjo, not far from Fort Vredeburg a restored Dutch fort.
At Yogyakarta's center is the kraton, or Sultan's palace. Surrounding the kraton is a densely-populated residential neighborhood that occupies land that was formerly the Sultan's sole domain; evidence of this former use remains in the form of old walls and the ruined "Water Castle" (Tamansari), built in 1758 as a pleasure garden. No longer used by the sultan, the garden had been largely abandoned, and was used for housing by palace employees and descendants. Reconstruction efforts began in 2004, and an effort to renew the neighborhood around the kraton has begun. The site is a developing tourist attraction. Yogyakarta is known for its silver work, leather puppets used for shadow plays (wayang kulit), and a unique style of making batik dyed fabric. It is also known for its vivid contemporary art scene. Yogyakarta is also known for its gamelan music, including the unique style Gamelan Yogyakarta, which developed in the courts.
Due to the importance of Yogyakarta during the war of independence from the Dutch, there are numerous memorials and museums. Yogya Kembali, and Fort Vredeburg are two major museums of about 11 named in the city.
To the east of the town centre is a large air-force museum; as Indonesia was for a period in the Soviet sphere of influence this museum contains a number of vintage Russian aircraft not widely available for inspection in the NATO sphere of influence. The collection includes examples of the Mig 15 trainer (NATO designation Mongol), MiG 17 (Fresco), MiG 19 (Farmer), Mig 21 (Fishbed) and Tu16 (Badger), together with an assortment of American and British aircraft.
Yogyakarta is served by Adisucipto International Airport.
The city is located on one of the two major railway lines across Java between Jakarta / Bandung and Surabaya. It has two passenger railway stations, Tugu is the major intercity station. The other is Lempuyangan.
The city has an extensive system of public city buses, and is a major destination for inter-city buses to elsewhere on Java or Bali, as well as taxis, andong, and becak. Motorbikes are by far the most commonly-used personal transportation, but an increasing number of residents own automobiles.
The site of several major universities, Yogyakarta is widely recognized as an educational city. The north of the city is home to Gadjah Mada University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Indonesia. Other famous universities in Yogyakarta are Institut Sains dan Teknologi AKPRIND - Yogyakarta, Indonesian Institute of the Arts - Yogyakarta, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Universitas Sanata Dharma, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional "Veteran" Yogyakarta, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Universitas Atma Jaya Yogyakarta, Sekolah Tinggi Teknologi Nasional [STTNAS dahulu ATNAS] yogyakarta,and Duta Wacana Christian UniversityUniversitas Teknologi Yogyakarta].
