February 19, 2026 | 08:34 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - One of the tourist attractions of the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) in Indonesia lies in its diverse and well-preserved cultural heritage. According to the Yogyakarta Special Region (DIY) Cultural Office, the province has 371 cultural heritage objects, 613 buildings, 186 structures, 89 sites, and 17 cultural heritage areas.
In the cultural heritage building category, there are 219 items, including schools, public services, and private residences. Of these, 28 are nationally ranked, the highest number in Indonesia as of 2025.
"The crucial challenge right now is how to tighten supervision and protection of thousands of cultural heritage objects in the face of increasingly rapid urban development," said the Head of the Yogyakarta Special Region Cultural Office, Dian Lakshmi Pratiwi, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026.
Dian explained that extra supervision efforts include those already housed in museums, such as the Sonobudoyo Museum, which has the second-largest collection after the Jakarta National Museum. At Sonobudoyo, visitors are given extra security for movable objects, such as statues and historical artifacts.
"We are still pursuing status determination for hundreds of other collection items, but the main focus is not just on quantity but on maintaining the important values so that these cultural heritage objects remain authentic for science," she said.
She explained that the process of preserving cultural heritage is carried out through a series of stages, starting from rehabilitation and revitalization to routine maintenance, which must be based on academic, technical, and administrative feasibility studies.
This step was taken to ensure that any action taken on historic buildings or sites is accountable and in accordance with applicable legal frameworks.
Furthermore, the deployment of Cultural Heritage Expert Teams (TACB) at the district and city levels is the ultimate measure to ensure continuous monitoring, control, and assistance for preservation in the field.
However, Dian said, although the government has the legal framework and expert teams, he believes the responsibility for preservation cannot be placed solely on the government.
"Because in Yogyakarta Special Region, the majority of historic buildings actually belong to the general public," he said.
The participation of heritage building owners is also vital to maintaining cultural heritage without diminishing its social function in daily life.
In December 2025, the Yogyakarta Special Region Government received the designation of 28 National Cultural Heritage Sites, including historic buildings, objects, and sites, including the Sonobudoyo Museum (Thomas Karsten Building); A number of statues from the Sonobudoyo Museum collection, such as the Vajrapani, Vajraraksa, Vajraloka, and Vinayaka statues, are also present; as well as historic buildings such as Yogyakarta State Senior High School 3, Dr. "YAP" Hospital, the Dharma Wiratama Army Central Museum, Yogyakarta State Senior High School 11 (the former Boedi Oetomo Congress venue), and the Yogyakarta Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) Building.
Other officially designated National Cultural Heritage sites include the Ambarukmo Recreation Center, the site of the 1959 Colombo Plan Conference, the site of the 1948 Trilateral Meetings between the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of Indonesia in Kaliurang, and the Tombs of the Kings of Islamic Mataram in Imogiri, which serve as important landmarks in national history.
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