We spent our day, taking a tour that drove through Surabaya, to Trowulan, an hour and a half to the west. Trowulan was the ancient capital of the Majapahit Empire and the only city site of the Hindu-Buddhist classical age in Indonesia. It is now an 100 square km archaeological site. The Majapahit Empire ruled eastern Java from 1293 and maintained strong connections with ports and traded extensively with Southeast Asia and China. The people of Majapahit practiced a blend of Hinduism and Buddhism, coexisting with a growing Muslim presence that later shaped Indonesia’s religious landscape. The city was razed in 1479 during an invasion. Temples, tombs, a reservoir, canals, and a bathing place remain. The city ruins were rediscovered in the early 1800’s by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of British Java, who was an enthusiast for the island’s history, and credited with founding contemporary Singapore. Trowulan was submitted as a UNESCO site in 2009.
We visited several temples, the Majapahit Museum, a reservoir, bathing site, and burial temple. We saw a smoking volcano in the distance, with rice and sugarcane growing in nearby fields. It was an interesting day, led by our enthusiastic tour guide, well versed in Majapahit history.
