The Sultan's Palace is a vast walled compound built in the mid-18th century — less a single building than a city within the city, with open pavilions, gardens, performance stages, and museums spread over several hectares. The current sultan, Hamengkubuwono X, still resides here and serves simultaneously as the elected governor of the Yogyakarta Special Region — the only arrangement of its kind in Indonesia.
The outer pavilions are open daily; the deeper parts of the palace, where the sultan's family lives, are closed. The public sections hold an excellent collection of royal regalia, portraits, and traditional gamelan sets. Weekly performances of wayang kulit, gamelan, and classical Javanese dance (bedoyo and srimpi) are held in the main pavilion on a rotating schedule — check the notice board at the entrance for the week's programme. The performances are unhurried and ceremonially serious, performed with the same dedication whether there are five visitors watching or five hundred.