Trowulan
The Capital Of Majapahit, The Empire Whose Name, Motto And Prime Minister The Indonesian Republic Took As Its Own Founding Mythology; On The UNESCO Tentative List And Never Inscribed · Mojokerto, East Java
This was the capital of MAJAPAHIT, the Hindu-Buddhist empire that from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century was the dominant power in maritime South East Asia - and modern Indonesia took its founding mythology directly from it. GAJAH MADA, the prime minister who swore the Palapa oath to bring the archipelago under one authority, has his name on the country's best-known university and its first satellite programme. BHINNEKA TUNGGAL IKA, THE NATIONAL MOTTO ON THE STATE EMBLEM, IS A LINE FROM A MAJAPAHIT-ERA POEM. WHAT SURVIVES ON THE GROUND IS SCATTERED AND MODEST: the Bajang Ratu gate, the split gate at Wringin Lawang, the sunken bathing place at Candi Tikus, a vast rectangular pool, and a good museum. IT IS ON THE UNESCO TENTATIVE LIST AND HAS NEVER BEEN INSCRIBED, partly because a living town and a working brick industry sit on top of it, digging into the archaeology as they go. The history is the draw here, not the ruins.
Trowulan, Mojokerto Regency, East Java, Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia
THE SITES ARE SCATTERED ACROSS SEVERAL SQUARE KILOMETRES OF A LIVING TOWN and are visited as a circuit rather than a walk - YOU NEED A CAR, A DRIVER OR AT LEAST AN OJEK, and most visitors underestimate this badly. INDIVIDUAL MONUMENTS - BAJANG RATU, WRINGIN LAWANG, CANDI TIKUS, CANDI BRAHU, THE SEGARAN POOL - are open in daylight with small separate fees or none at all, several with a caretaker to tip. THE MAJAPAHIT MUSEUM keeps daytime hours and CLOSES ON MONDAYS as most Indonesian museums do; it is the right place to start because the monuments make far more sense afterwards. IT IS ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF FROM SURABAYA and an easy stop between Surabaya and Bromo or Malang. There is little shade at any of the sites.