The Museum Batik in Yogya is not as glitzy as the Danar Hadi collection in Solo, but it is still well worth a visit.

They have a great collection of different styles of batik -- Yogya, Solo, Madura, coastal, Cina/Java, and so on -- and it always fascinates me to learn more about this art form.

It seems to me there is a "batik language" that has to be learnt like any other language. Every pattern carries a meaning, symbolizing a life event, a social status, a geographical origin, and so on. (I have only scratched the surface of this language as yet. But here are a couple of interesting blogs that take it all much further.)

This museum also has an intriguing collection of embroidery (sulaman). As well as embroidered clothes (whose amazingly intricate patterns must have demanded eyes like microscopes and fingers like tweezers), there are also embroidered pictures, representing famous figures, family members, and Biblical scenes. I've never seen anything quite like these. They create a 3D effect that is very striking.

The photo above is a bit of the batik that was given to me this week. If you look at it close up, it resembles an oil painting. I'm really looking forward to getting it made into something nice, and playing my own tiny part in preserving and publicizing this extraordinary heritage.