The cultural heart of Java and a living sultanate, laid out in seventeen fifty-five as a single sacred axis from a northern pillar through Malioboro Street to the Sultan's Palace and the ruined water castle. It is also the gateway to two of the world's great monuments: the ninth-century Buddhist mountain of Borobudur and the Hindu towers of Prambanan, each a short drive from the city. Read the sultan's axis and climb the ancient temples at your own pace.