Cirebon is an important port city in the
south-western part of the Indonesian archipelago. It is located on the north
coast of the most populous Indonesian island of Java. Although it is in West
Java Province, it stands on the border of Central Java. This makes it an
important cultural melting pot of the Sundanese and Javanese people
respectively. Chinese immigrants also play an important role. As the second
port of Jakarta, and one with an expanding export production zone, it is
important for the whole of West Java. It is also the point of export for a
large number of agricultural commodities such as tea, rice sugar, coffee, and
essential oil, teak and other products of the surrounding region. Development
is occurring at a high rate with Indonesian and foreign investment increasing.
Cirebon is an important transportation center for goods to and from Jakarta, as
well as a transit town between West Java and Central Java, where the trucks and
buses pass by the busy major east-west highway. Nevertheless, life in Cirebon
retains much of its charm, with bicycle rickshaws still plying its wide, tree
lined streets. There are a number of special artistic and cultural features of
the city, including its unique glass painting and special batik cloth, both of
which are characterized by motifs reflecting the traditions of the Kratons, or
former palaces of the Sultanate of Cirebon, which reached its height in the
fifteenth century. This old and almost forgotten sultanate, contains four
Kratons or palaces, the refuge for still living lines of an ancient royal
family. Symbolic of a feudalistic and aristocratic past, the sultans have long
since relinquished their traditional lifestyle
This paper has presented a spatial analysis
of the recreational and tourism potential of the Kratons of Cirebon. It has
explained their history and culture, looked at the Kratons as a resource from
the points of view of a number of spatially disparate user groups, outlined the
current uses of the palaces and offered some ideas for their further
recreational and tourism development based on the sets of factors identified by
Pearce. It is clear that there is significant scope here for the further
development of this rich cultural and historical resource within the context of
a growing and modernizing city still proudly conscious of its past.
Article by Henny N. Edelman , David J. Edelman,
from Putrie Consulting, USA and University of Cincinnati, USA.
Read more @ http://www.scirp.org/Journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=41327&utm_campaign=blogger&utm_medium=ljw
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| Photo by Cycling Embassy,from Flickr-cc. |
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