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The Skilled Hands of Mungkid, Magelang Residents.

When you visit Borobudur or Yogyakarta, make sure to explore the tourist villages in Mungkid District, Magelang. There are various attractions to enjoy, from handicrafts, traditional arts, souvenirs, to agro-tourism, all thanks to the skillful hands of the locals who deserve admiration.

 

Pick Longans and Visit a Sculpture Workshop in Senden Village

Walking through orchards can be a fun activity, especially when you can pick and taste fruits straight from the tree. In Senden Village, you can visit Abah Wanto’s one-hectare longan orchard. With around 250 longan trees, these trees produce sweet fruits with thick flesh and small seeds, a result of cross-breeding local trees with Thai longans.

Abah has also engineered the trees to produce fruit all year round, allowing visitors to come anytime. You can pick as many as you like and only pay IDR 50,000 per kilogram of fruit you take home. Each tree can yield up to one hundred kilograms per harvest!

For those who love sculpture, head to Semar Mesem Sculpture Studio, owned by Lilik Muryanto. Don't be surprised to find horse statues as tall as a house or life-sized dinosaur statues. Lilik, a graduate of art school, specializes in large sculptures that are often displayed in tourist areas, luxury housing, and offices.

He also teaches locals and receives souvenir orders from all over Indonesia, such as Borobudur miniatures. During peak orders, his monthly turnover can reach IDR 500 million.

Senden Village also has the Tresno Budoyo Jathilan Art Studio, active since the time of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, and traditionally performed to welcome the president's arrival in the area. Supardil, a prominent figure in Tresno Budoyo, led the group for over 40 years starting in 1977 before handing it over to his younger brother Sudiman in recent years.

Tresno Budoyo continuously strives to preserve the jathilan art form by recruiting young members. The jathilan dance itself can be performed with slow, soft movements or fast, intense ones. It tells the story of knights searching for their lost king, emphasizing the need for a leader and strategist.

Visit the Broom-Making Village in Bojong

A unique attraction in Bojong Village, particularly in Keprekan Hamlet, is its broom-making craft. Brooms are everywhere, from shops selling manual cleaning tools to every household diligently crafting brooms, especially rayung (reed) brooms.

This craft has been passed down through generations and has now reached export markets. According to Arif, a youth tourism activist in Bojong, making a broom involves 18 steps, from bamboo processing to binding the reeds.

 

Educational Tourism with the Strong Women of Paremono Village

Jamu Rempon Ndoro is a herbal jamu product created by Itur Yuliastik, a resilient woman who has worked in various jobs and eventually chose to become a spiritual entrepreneur in the herbal jamu business.

Itur is committed to building agro-tourism based on herbs and agriculture, involving students from eight vocational schools and three universities. She not only teaches production methods but also instills entrepreneurial soft skills.

Various ready-to-drink herbal drinks produced by Itur Yuliastik have been marketed across Indonesia and are also exported to neighboring Malaysia. Itur is very confident in the quality of her products. For example, Wedang Uwuh, compared to similar products from other brands, has a longer shelf life. This ready-to-drink herbal product can be stored for up to a year. The best-selling product is Wedang Bledeg, made using chili grown in her own garden without chemical fertilizers. Currently, their monthly revenue is between 15–20 million rupiahs.

Rempon Ndoro also sells her products as souvenirs and hampers. In addition to expanding her product range, Itur is promoting educational tourism packages that cover the production of dried herbal drinks, the cultivation of herbal plants, and their use to preserve local wisdom.

“Many people don’t realize that the grass around us, often found in fields or on the roadside, could have medicinal benefits. For instance, Badotan grass is excellent for medicinal use,” says Itur.

Another creative woman from Paremono Village is Ita Sarifah, who has ventured into fashion by creating eco-print designs using all-natural dyeing techniques.

In pursuit of high artistic value and the best quality, the fabrics used are selected natural materials like primisima, viscose, cotton, and silk. She uses natural dyes from leaves, stems, and flowers such as Jolawe, Tegeran, Tingi, Gambir, Secang, and Ketapang. Ita also developed new patterns, adding illustrations of cultural icons like the stupa of Borobudur or other regional motifs.

To promote the village’s identity, the eco-print fabrics feature local leaves rich in tannins, like teak leaves, which produce a sharp red color. The production process, alongside the village’s PKK women, is done at the village hall during public holidays.

With her brand, Corak Alam, Ita became a finalist in the iForte Preneur competition, which hosted a business plan contest in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. She is also a creator of traditional snacks like Ampyang and often holds workshops that attract many people, including international tourists.

Isn't it exciting to discover the various tourism potentials created by the skilled hands of the villagers in Mungkid, Magelang? In this area, visitors can also stop by the iconic Kalpataru Gate in Blondo Village, one of four gates that connect tourists entering the Borobudur KSPN (National Tourism Strategic Area).

The Kalpataru Gate, or Gate of Kalpavriksha, was created by Balinese artist I Nyoman Alim Mustapha, who has lived in Mungkid, Magelang. His intricate design of the Kalpataru statue has now become one of Magelang's iconic landmarks, attracting many visitors who want to take photos. But be careful when taking pictures, as it is located next to the highway.

So, let’s travel to Magelang! While touring, let's support the local artisans to inspire them and enhance the well-being of the village's tourism community.

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