Trowulan

The capital of Majapahit

The Majapahit kingdom, founded in 1293, ruled much of Java and claimed overlordship over a wide area of the archipelago. Its capital is described in the Nagarakretagama, a court poem in Old Javanese completed in 1365 by the Buddhist monk Prapanca for King Hayam Wuruk. The poem describes walls of red brick, a royal compound with gates and pavilions, the quarters of Shaiva and Buddhist priests, markets and the houses of nobles. Trowulan, on the plain of the Brantas river south-west of Surabaya, has long been identified with this city, though the site's remains do not map neatly onto the poem.

The remains

The site covers about a hundred square kilometres and was crossed by a grid of canals and reservoirs. The surviving monuments are of brick. The Wringin Lawang is a split gate, two halves of a tower with a gap between them, a form that became common in Java and Bali. The Bajang Ratu is a roofed gateway with a tall tiered top, traditionally linked with the death of King Jayanegara in 1328. Candi Tikus is a sunken bathing place with terraced sides and water spouts, and the Segaran is a large rectangular reservoir. Candi Brahu is a brick temple probably used for Buddhist rites.

Excavation has uncovered house foundations, wells, roof tiles, and great quantities of terracotta figures, pottery and imported Chinese ceramics and coins, showing a dense urban population and wide trade. The terracottas are among the most distinctive products of Majapahit: heads and figures of men and women, some with features that appear foreign, animals, miniature houses and temples, piggy banks, and roof ornaments. Many were made in moulds in local workshops. They give a picture of daily life and dress that the court poetry does not.

The Dutch architect Henri Maclaine Pont, working in the 1920s, made the first systematic study and founded a museum there.

The Muslim graves

At Tralaya, within the site, is a group of Muslim gravestones with inscriptions in Arabic and Old Javanese numerals, many with dates in the Shaka era of the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. They show that Muslims lived at or near the court while the kingdom was still Hindu-Buddhist, probably members of the elite, and they are among the earliest evidence of Islam in Java. The coexistence they suggest is important to modern Indonesian accounts of the period.

Threats and conservation

Much of the site lies under villages and fields. Local brick-making, which digs the clay of the old city, has destroyed many remains. Plans for a large information centre in 2008 were halted after protests that construction was damaging the archaeology. Indonesia has nominated Trowulan for World Heritage status.