Prambanan Temple
The spectacular, World Heritage-listed Prambanan Temple is situated in central Java’s Yogyakarta District, a short distance northeast of the eponymous provincial capital. The sanctuary originally dates to the mid-9th century, slightly later than the nearby Buddhist temple Borobudur and the adjacent Candi Sewu. It was dedicated to the god Shiva and, as far as Southeast Asian Hindu temples go, is said to be second only to Angkor Wat in size.
The also World Heritage-listed temple of Borobudur lies an hour’s drive west Strictly speaking, Prambanan refers to an entire temple complex comprising an estimated 240 separate shrines, some of which are slightly older than the main towers, whilst others were added later. Due to its location, over the centuries the site suffered damage from earthquakes as well as regular eruptions from the nearby volcano Mount Merapi and while the central shrines are today fully restored, many of the smaller, surrounding structures are still in pieces on the ground.
The central, walled area is fully restored, although many smaller shrines – seen in the foreground – are still in ruins Candi Sewu or Sewu Temple
Although a mere 800 metres separates Candi Sewu from Prambanan, they are nearly a century apart time-wise with the former, a Mahayana Buddhist temple, dating to the mid to late 8th century. The Buddhist Saliendra dynasty commissioned both Sewu and Borobudur, while the Hindu Sanjayas who rose to power in the first half of the 9th century, were clearly making a statement by ordering Prambanan to be constructed in the same area as their predecessors’ spectacular Buddhist sanctuaries.
Like its immediate neighbour, the central compound of Sewu, housing the most imposing tower, has also been restored and includes numerous carved reliefs, while myriad, smaller surrounding shrines remain as piles of blocks on the ground. Superficially at least, Prambanan and Sewu share architectural similarities and both feature the elaborate, indented towers with spiky antefixes invite comparisons to Angkor Wat. The latter, however, was constructed some 200 and 250 years after these and 8th to 9th century Khmer temples mainly consisted of arrangements of small, brick towers.
Ongoing restoration work at Sewu is likely to continue for decades rather than years Like the temples of Angkor, the stone – in this case, a dark, volcanic rock – would have been coated with plaster and painted.
Prambanan and Sewu on our Java tours
Both Prambanan and Sewu are included on our Indonesia small group tours Java Overland and Sumatra to Bali with our visits timed for late afternoon. This allows for a leisurely perusal of the former before moving on to Sewu, whose silhouette is particularly spectacular at sunset. A series of smaller sanctuaries dot the 800 metre path between the two temples, although the area is, in our opinion, rather unnecessarily manicured and a bit more of a ‘jungly’ feel with some vines, creepers and monkeys would surely go down well with visitors.
Sunset at Candi Sewu, Java Spectacular as these ancient temples are, annual visitor numbers count in the tens of thousands instead of the millions at the Angkor Historical Park. (For our groups, the relatively low number of tourists is a definite plus – just saying that for the Yogyakarta Tourist Board.)
