Prambanan

Prambanan is a massive 9th-century Hindu temple compound located in Indonesia.

It sits in the Special Region of Yogyakarta on the border of Central Java. This site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and holds great importance. It is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia. It is also the second-largest Hindu temple site in Southeast Asia, following Angkor Wat. The architecture is famous for being tall and pointed. This style is very typical of Hindu design. The complex features a towering central building inside a large group of individual temples.

Originally, the site contained 240 temple structures. These buildings represented the grandeur of ancient Javanese art. Many scholars consider the site a masterpiece of the Indonesian classical period.

Building this massive complex required complex engineering and planning.

One major task involved managing the local water. The Opak River used to flow closer to the temple. Experts believe the river was moved to protect the site. This movement helped secure the temples from volcanic lahar. Lahar is a type of mudflow from a volcano. Workers cut a new north-to-south channel for the river. They then filled in the old river course. This created level ground for expanding the temple complex. This extra space allowed for many rows of pervara temples. Pervara are smaller, ancillary temples that surround the main shrines.

The temples are dedicated to the Trimurti. This is the expression of God in three forms. These forms are Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer.

The main towers are called prasada. The largest prasada reaches a height of 47 metres. The complex served as the royal temple for the Mataram kingdom. Most religious ceremonies and sacrifices happened here. During the height of the kingdom, hundreds of brahmins lived inside the walls. Brahmins are Hindu scholars or priests. They lived there along with their many disciples. The urban center of the Mataram court was located nearby on the Prambanan Plain.

History shows that several kings shaped the site.

Rakai Pikatan likely started the construction in the mid-9th century. His successor, King Lokapala, helped inaugurate the site. Later, King Balitung Maha Sambu expanded the complex extensively. A red-paint script found on a finial confirms King Pikatan's role. An inscription from 856 CE is also very important. It is called the Shivagrha inscription. This text was issued by King Lokapala. It describes a Shiva temple compound that looks like Prambanan. The inscription says the temple was named Shiva-grha or Shiva-laya. This means "the House of Shiva" or "the Realm of Shiva."

The site was used for about 80 years before it was abandoned.

The exact reason for this abandonment remains a mystery. Some historians suggest a power struggle occurred. Others point to the movement of the Javanese court to East Java. In the 930s, Mpu Sindok moved the court and established the Isyana dynasty. A major volcanic eruption also happened in 1006 CE. Mount Merapi is located about 25 kilometres north of the temples. This eruption may have contributed to the decline of the site. Later, a major earthquake in the 16th century caused the temples to collapse. For many years, the ruins were known only to local villagers.

Local people developed legends to explain the ruins.

They did not know the historical details of the kings. Instead, they created myths about giants and a cursed princess. The most famous is the Rara Jonggrang folktale. This story says demons created the temples for a leader named Bandung Bondowoso. In the 1800s, the world began to rediscover the site. Cornelis Antonie Lons wrote about the ruins in 1733. He described them as "Brahmin temples" that looked like mountains of stone. Later, Dutch officials began to study and measure the area. This led to the first formal efforts to restore the site.

Restoration is a very slow and careful process.

Experts use a method called anastylosis. This means they use as many original stone blocks as possible. The reconstruction of the main Shiva temple finished in 1953. This was inaugurated by Indonesia's first president, Sukarno. Other temples, like the Brahma and Vishnu temples, were rebuilt later. However, much of the original stone was lost to looting. Because of this, the government only rebuilds shrines with 75% of their original masonry. There were originally 224 pervara temples. As of February 2023, only 6 of them are completely reconstructed. It may take 200 years to finish the whole project.