Thousands of pieces
A top batik collection.
A batik museum in an elegant old mansion on the main Slamet Riyadi avenue, founded by the Danar Hadi family, one of Indonesia's best-known batik houses, holding one of the world's richest collections of old batik, thousands of pieces, some from the nineteenth century. The guided tour takes you through halls tracing batik's evolution: palace batik with patterns once forbidden to commoners, north-coast batik influenced by China and the Netherlands, the fine batik of the Japanese period, and national-unity batik. Then you move to the workshop to watch women drawing in wax, ending in the shop. Tickets are around thirty-five thousand rupiah, including the guide, and photography in the galleries is usually not allowed. It is the best place to understand batik before shopping in Laweyan and Klewer, so start here. The building itself, Dalem Wuryaningratan, is a handsome noble residence worth a look.
A top batik collection.
Once forbidden to commoners.
Wax drawing before you.
Jalan Slamet Riyadi, central Solo
Pura Mangkunegaran PalaceSolo's second palace, seat of the Mangkunegara princes since the mid-eighteenth 9 minutes walk
Great Mosque of SurakartaThe royal mosque of the Surakarta sultanate, built by Sultan Pakubuwono III in t16 minutes walk
Pasar Klewer Batik MarketSolo's largest batik and textile market and one of Indonesia's biggest, a multi-17 minutes walk
Kasunanan Palace of SurakartaThe palace of the sultans of Surakarta, founded by Sultan Pakubuwono II in 1745 20 minutes walk
Fort VastenburgAn eighteenth-century Dutch fort at the heart of Solo, built near the sultan's p21 minutes walkYes, it is the best introduction: the guide explains the symbols and styles simply, so you shop afterwards with a sharper eye.