Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat

Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat (Keraton Jogja)
Pagelaran hall of Yogyakarta Kraton
General information
Architectural style	Javanese Architecture
Location	Jl. Rotowijayan 1 55133, Yogyakarta
Construction started	1755
Client	Sultan of Yogyakarta
Website
www.kratonjogja.id

Kraton of Yogyakarta (formally known as: Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat) is a palace complex located in the city of Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. The palace is the main seat Sultan of Yogyakarta and his family. It serves as a cultural center for the Javanese people and contains a museum that displays the sultanate's artifacts.

It is guarded by the His Majesty's Kraton Guard Regiment (Prajurit Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat).

Yogyakarta Palace was built by Prince Mangkubumi in 1755-1756 (Javanese year: 1682), several months after the signing of the Treaty of Giyanti between Prince Mangkubumi of Yogyakarta, Hamengkubuwono of Surakarta and Dutch East India Company. A Banyan Forest was chosen as the site of the palace due to its location between two rivers which were considered good protection from possible flooding.

On 20 June 1812, Stamford Raffles led a 1,200-strong British force to attack the walled royal city of Yogyakarta. The Javanese, although outnumbering the invader, weren't prepared for the attack and were taken back by the event. In one day the city of Yogyakarta fell and the royal palace was sacked and burned. The total loot from the palace valued £15,000 in gold, jewels and hard currency (which values £500,000 today). The event was the first time an attack has been carried out into a court in Java and as a result the sultanate was completely subjugated to colonial authority.

Most of the palace's current form are built by Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII who reign from 1921 to 1939. It suffered from an earthquake in 1876 and 2006, and was subsequently rebuilt after the devastation.

Kraton means the place where the "ratu" (in English: Queen, in Javanese also mean: King) resides. The word "Keraton" (Keraton is living quarter of the royal family in the palace) (shortened form of ratu/Ka-ratuan) derived from the word "Ratu" which in Malay means king. The palace was built according to Javanese Philosophy and is shrouded by mysticism. The spatial arrangement of the palace, including the cityscape of the old city of Yogyakarta, including its architecture, direction of buildings, and objects all belongs to the mythological value and belief system of the Javanese. The main street of the old city forms a straight line from Tugu Yogyakarta, Kraton, Mount Merapi to Krapyak Hunting House. The layout mean "the origin of human beings and their last purposes" (Javanese: sangkan paraning dumadi).