Latest / Majapahit: The Empire That Once Ruled Indonesia — Fexingo History / The Sacred Keraton: Majapahit's Lost Royal Palace
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- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Trowulan — the walled city, the irrigation, the rice barns, the markets. But there's one structure at the heart of it all that we've only hinted at: the keraton, the royal palace itself. Luna: Right — and I think we've assumed it was something like a single grand building, but I'm guessing it was more like a complex? Lucas: Exactly. The Negarakertagama describes it as a sprawling walled compound with multiple courtyards, audience halls, residential pavilions, and sacred spaces. The main hall was called the Bale Manguntur — where the king held court. And there was a raised stone platform called the Sitinggil, used for royal ceremonies. Think of it less like a European palace and more like a Javanese kraton — a concentric arrangement of spaces, each more private and sacred as you go inward. Luna: And today, is there anything left? I mean, we have the brick gates like Bajang Ratu and Wringin Lawang — but those are just gateways, right? Lucas: Exactly. The structures themselves — the audience halls, the residences, the pavilions — were built mostly of wood and thatch on brick foundations. So the wood rotted away centuries ago. What archaeologists have found are the brick plinths and post holes. In the 1990s, a team from the Indonesian Archaeology Department excavated what they believe is the main pendopo — the open-sided reception hall — right in the center of Trowulan. They found a rectangular brick platform about 20 by 30 meters, with traces of wooden pillars. And surrounding it, remnants of smaller structures, probably for ministers and guards. Luna: So the palace was essentially a large complex of wooden halls on brick bases. That makes sense for the tropics — open, airy, but grand. Lucas: Yes. And we have a pretty detailed description from a Chinese source — the Ming Shilu, the imperial annals. In 1413, the Ming admiral Zheng He visited Majapahit and his chroniclers wrote that the king's palace was surrounded by a brick wall about three meters high. Inside were three main halls, each with a raised throne, and the roof was covered with clay tiles — not the red tiles of Chinese palaces, but local Javanese style. They also noted that the king's guards were women — which we know from our episodes on the Bhayangkari. Luna: That fits with the Negarakertagama too — Mpu Prapanca mentions the female guards stationed at the palace gates. Lucas: Right. So we've got a pretty vivid picture. But here's the mystery: by the time the Portuguese arrived in the early 1500s, the palace was already in ruins. Tomé Pires, who wrote the Suma Oriental around 1515, says that the king of Majapahit — he calls him 'the king of Java' — no longer lived in Trowulan. The city was largely abandoned, and the palace was crumbling. He mentions that the 'great mosque' of Demak had been built using materials taken from the old palace. Luna: Wait — so Demak's mosque was literally built with bricks from the Majapahit keraton? Lucas: That's the tradition. The Wali Songo — the nine saints who spread Islam in Java — are said to have dismantled parts of the palace to build the Demak Great Mosque. The mosque's main pillars, called the saka guru, are supposedly made from wood taken from the palace. And the mosque's walls use bricks that match the style of Trowulan's structures. So the palace didn't just decay — it was actively recycled into the new Islamic kingdom's central mosque. It's a physical metaphor for the transition from Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit to Muslim Demak. Luna: That's incredible — and a little sad. The heart of an empire, literally taken apart to build the next era. Lucas: Yeah. And the keraton was more than just a residence — it was the symbolic center of the realm. The Negarakertagama says that the palace was the 'navel of the world,' the axis connecting heaven and earth. The king's bedchamber was aligned with the sacred mountain, and the whole complex was laid out according to a cosmic map. So its dismantling was not just physical — it was a deliberate erasure of the old order. Luna: So what do we know about the layout? You mentioned the Bale Manguntur and the Sitinggil — were there other key structures? Lucas: A lot. The Negarakertagama catalogs a series of named buildings: the Bale Wiratāsana, where the king heard legal cases; the Bale Pagongan, for music and dance; the Bale Manguyu, a meditation pavilion. There was also a place called the Kaputran, the prince's quarters. And a garden with a pool called the Talaga — maybe the same as the Segaran pool we visited in the Trowulan episode, though that might have been separate. The palace also had a temple, Candi Kedaton, which is the only stone structure within the complex that still stands — albeit as a ruin. It was probably a royal shrine to the king's deified ancestors. Luna: Candi Kedaton — that's that small brick temple near the center of Trowulan, right? Lucas: Yes. It's modest — about 10 meters tall — but it's the only surviving stone building in the palace compound. Archaeologists have found traces of other candi around it, probably smaller shrines. And interestingly, the temple faces west, not east like most Hindu temples. That might be because it was aligned to the king's residence, which was in the eastern part of the complex. Luna: I want to ask about something I read — the Paregreg civil war. Did that affect the palace directly? Lucas: Hugely. The Paregreg was a succession war between 1404 and 1406 that split the kingdom. The western faction controlled Trowulan, and the eastern faction under Bhre Wirabhumi controlled the east. The fighting was brutal — the Pararaton says that the palace itself was looted and damaged during the conflict. After the war, the victorious Wikramawardhana moved the court briefly to a new site, maybe nearer the coast. That was the first blow. The palace never fully recovered its former glory. Then, in the 1470s, the capital was abandoned entirely after a series of fires and further conflict. Luna: So the palace was already in decline before the Portuguese arrived. But the final dismantling by Demak — that was the death knell. Lucas: Exactly. And it's worth noting that the Demak sultan, Raden Patah, was said to be the son of the last Majapahit king, Brawijaya V. So it's a kind of patricide — the son literally taking apart the father's palace to build his own mosque. The Javanese chronicles, the Babad Tanah Jawi, are full of this drama: the Wali Songo negotiating with the king, the conversion of the court, the transfer of sacred objects. The Keraton's pusaka — heirlooms like the keris — were also moved to Demak. So the palace's end was not just a collapse, but a deliberate transfer of legitimacy. Luna: Speaking of support — if today's episode was useful to you and you want to keep it ad-free, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps. Lucas: Yeah, that's really what keeps these conversations possible. We don't run ads, so listener support through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo is what funds the research and production. It's a small way to keep the show going. Luna: Absolutely. So back to the palace — you mentioned the Sitinggil. What was that exactly? Lucas: The Sitinggil was a raised stone platform, probably like the ones you still see in Javanese kratons today — where the king would appear on state occasions, overlooking the main square. The Negarakertagama says it was decorated with carvings of lions and elephants, and it was used for royal audiences and celebrations. There's a ruin in Trowulan that archaeologists call 'Pendopo Agung' which might be the Sitinggil, but it's not certain. It's just a brick base now, but in its day it would have been a dramatic sight — the king elevated above the crowd, framed by golden decorations and parasols. Luna: And what about the inner, more private quarters? Did women have their own spaces? Lucas: Yes, definitely. The Negarakertagama mentions the 'pura' — the inner palace — where the queen and the royal women lived, guarded by female soldiers. It was forbidden to men except the king. There were gardens, bathing pools, and a separate kitchen. The Ming Shilu also mentions that the queen's apartments had a high wall around them. So it was a highly gendered space, with strict protocol. The king would move between the public outer halls and the private inner quarters through a series of gates, each guarded. Luna: It sounds like a world of its own — almost like a small city within the city. Lucas: It was. And the archaeological evidence supports that. Recent ground-penetrating radar surveys in Trowulan have revealed extensive brick foundations extending over an area of about 10 hectares — that's the size of about 15 football fields. So the keraton was enormous. But because it's all under rice paddies now, very little has been excavated fully. The Indonesian government has been slow to fund major digs, partly because the site is still inhabited and farmed. So there's probably a lot still buried. Luna: That's tantalizing. I'm thinking about the artifacts that have been found — like the golden jewelry, the ceramics, the figurines. Were those from the palace? Lucas: Some were. The Trowulan Museum has a collection of gold items — rings, earrings, coins — that were found in the palace area. Also, hundreds of Chinese ceramic sherds from the 14th and 15th centuries, which show the extensive trade. But a lot of the best pieces were looted in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Dutch colonial officials and collectors took tons of artifacts. So we only have fragments. One of the most famous pieces is a golden bowl with a lotus motif, now in the National Museum in Jakarta. It's thought to have been used in royal ceremonies. Luna: And the palace's role in the 'Bubat' incident — we've talked about that before. That happened in the keraton, didn't it? Lucas: Actually, the Bubat incident — the massacre of the Sunda royal family — is traditionally said to have taken place at the Bubat field, which was a square just north of the palace. But some sources say the Sunda princess and her entourage were lodged in a pavilion within the palace complex itself. The Negarakertagama doesn't mention it — it's from later, more mythologized accounts like the Pararaton and the Babad Tanah Jawi. Either way, the palace was the setting for one of the most notorious betrayals in Javanese history: Gajah Mada's demand that the Sunda princess be a mere concubine, not a queen, which led to the battle and the Sunda king's death. Luna: So the palace wasn't just a home — it was a stage for politics, power, and tragedy. Lucas: Absolutely. And that's why its loss is so significant. We can reconstruct some of it from texts and archaeology, but the actual experience of walking through those halls, smelling the incense, hearing the gamelan — that's gone. Still, the fact that we can talk about the Bale Manguntur or the Sitinggil with some confidence shows how much the Javanese literary tradition preserved. The Negarakertagama is like a time capsule. Without it, we'd have almost nothing but scattered bricks. Luna: It makes me wonder — are there any plans to reconstruct parts of the palace, like some historical sites do? Lucas: There have been proposals, but they're controversial. Some archaeologists argue that any reconstruction would be speculative — we don't know the exact height of the pillars, the roof style, the decorations. Others say it would help visitors understand the scale. For now, the site is preserved as an archaeological park, with markers showing where buildings once stood. The Indonesian government is working with UNESCO to develop the Trowulan site as a cultural heritage area, but it's moving slowly. In the meantime, the local farmers keep planting rice among the ruins — which is actually a beautiful continuity. Luna: It is. The rice grows where kings once walked. There's something poetic about that. Lucas: Yeah. And it's a reminder that empires pass, but the land endures. The keraton of Majapahit is gone, but the soil of Trowulan still bears the traces. And maybe that's fitting for a palace that was always meant to be a microcosm of the cosmos — it returns to the earth. Luna: I think that's a good place to leave it. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thank you, Luna. Until next time.