The Muntilan area is a district ( ''kecamatan'') in the

Magelang Regency Magelang ( jv, ꦩꦒꦼꦭꦁ) is a regency in Central Java, Indonesia, famous for its 9th century Buddhist temple of Borobudur. Its capital is Mungkid. It covers an area of 1,085.73 km2 and had a population of 1,181,723 at the 2010 Cens ...

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

. Muntilan is about 15 km south of

Magelang Magelang () is one of six cities in Central Java that are administratively independent of the regencies in which they lie geographically. Each of these cities is governed by a mayor rather than a ''bupati''. Magelang city covers an area of 18. ...

, 10 km from

Mungkid Mungkid is the capital of Magelang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. The town center is located in the village of Sawitan. All government offices or agencies of Magelang regency are located here, including the offices owned by private parties. Mun ...

, 25 km north of

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

, and 90 km from the main town of

Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...

located on the northern coast of Java. The town of Muntilan is on the old railway route between Kebon Polo station in

and the main Tugu station in

. Tourists on their way to the well-known Buddhist temple

Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...

usually pass through Muntilan. Muntilan kerk

Muntilan township is one of the main market centers on the western slopes of

Mount Merapi Mount Merapi, ''Gunung Merapi'' (literally Fire Mountain in Indonesian and Javanese), is an active stratovolcano located on the border between the province of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most acti ...

, a major volcano in central

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

within the administrative ambit of the regional government in Magelang. The locality is densely populated: in 2020, there was a population of 79,944 people living in an area of 28.61 km², indicating a population density of 2,794 per km².

History

The adjacent countryside has many villages with

pesantren ''Pesantren'', or ''pondok pesantren'', are Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia. They consist of pondok, mosque, santri, teaching of classical Islamic texts and Kyai.Zamakhsyari Dhofie''The Pesantren Tradition: A Study of the Role of the Kyai ...

and strong allegiances to more stricter forms of

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

. In contrast, villages closer to the Kraton palaces of

Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and Sukoh ...

and

tend to more influenced by

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...

views of

Javanese beliefs The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

have long had a presence in the town, having a

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

, and a

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

containing the remains of many of their earlier members.

Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder S.J. (January 29, 1906 – July 8, 1995) was a Dutch expert in the Old Javanese language. He came from Utrecht and was associated with the Society of Jesus by 1925. He worked at Leiden University in the 1930s. His f ...

being a more recent internee.

Frans van Lith Franciscus Georgius Josephus van Lith, SJ or often called Frans van Lith or affectionately Romo van Lith ( Javanese:"Father van Lith"; 17 May 1863 – 9 January 1926), was a Jesuit priest from Oirschot, Netherlands who pioneered the Catholic mis ...

, a Jesuit priest from The Netherlands, arrived in Muntilan in 1897 and played an important role in promoting Catholicism in the area. Indonesia's first Catholic cardinal, Justinus Darmojuwono, is buried in Kerkhoof Muntilan, a cemetery for prominent Catholics in the town. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Muntilan was the site of a Japanese prisoner of war camp which contained many Dutch families.

Current

The streetscape of Muntilan along Jl Pemuda (Pemuda street) provides one of the more classic street views in Central Java. The line of shop-fronts, and the enclave of Chinese-based businesses in the central area, provide clues as to the nature of commercial development in the town over the last century. The area is at ever-present risk of needing to respond to natural disasters caused by eruptions of Mt Merapi. In 1994, for example, a

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of bu ...

from Mt Merapi killed over 20 people in the Muntilan area.

Notes

External links

{{coord, 7.58, S, 110.298, E, source:kolossus-nlwiki, display=title Magelang Regency Districts of Central Java