Bajang Ratu Gate
A roofed brick gateway, 16.5 m high.
Anandajoti Bhikkhu from Sadao, Thailand — CC BY 2.0 · Anandajoti Bhikkhu from Sadao, Thailand — CC BY 2.0 · Anandajoti Bhikkhu from Sadao, Thailand — CC BY 2.0 · Anandajoti Bhikkhu from Sadao, Thailand — CC BY 2.0 · Anandajoti Bhikkhu from Sadao, Thailand — CC BY 2.0
Trowulan, in East Java's Mojokerto Regency, holds the ruins of the capital of Majapahit, the Hindu-Buddhist kingdom whose influence reached much of the archipelago in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its red-brick remains cover about 11 by 9 km; Indonesia put the site on UNESCO's tentative list in 2009. Prapanca's poem Nagarakretagama (1365) describes the walled royal compound. Sources say the city was razed in 1478; Mount Kelud's eruptions and Brantas floods have since buried parts of it under mud and volcanic debris. Stamford Raffles called it the pride of Java. Muslim tombstones at Troloyo, the oldest from the 14th century, show Muslims lived in the capital at its height. The Majapahit Museum beside Segaran Pool shows terracotta figures with Chinese, Indian and Arab features, clay money boxes and stone statues. Nearby stand Bajang Ratu, a 16.5 m roofed brick gate linked to the memorial of King Jayanegara (died 1328); Candi Tikus, a sunken bathing place found in 1914; the split gate of Wringin Lawang; and the red-brick Buddhist temple of Candi Brahu, 1.5 km from the Maha Vihara Mojopahit and its 22 m reclining Buddha. The museum lies about 60 km south-west of Surabaya by road, 1.5 to 2.5 hours' drive depending on traffic. The temples and gates are 2 to 3 km away, so hire a car and driver for the day. At Troloyo and the vihara, cover shoulders and knees, remove shoes where asked and avoid prayer times, especially Friday prayers; women cover their hair at the tombs. Pair it with Surabaya's Sunan Ampel Mosque.
A roofed brick gateway, 16.5 m high.
A sunken brick bathing place.
Muslim tombstones of the Majapahit era.
Beside Segaran Pool, Trowulan district, Mojokerto Regency
Under Mojokerto Regency's 2026 tariffs, foreign visitors pay IDR 50,000 each at the museum and the Troloyo graves and IDR 35,000 at each temple or gate, so the museum, Troloyo and the four temples and gates described here come to IDR 240,000. Indonesian adults pay a few thousand rupiah per site.
Tikus means rat, and the name stuck because the site is said to have been overrun by rats when it was dug out in 1914. Scholars still debate whether it was a royal bath or a reservoir supplying the townspeople with water.