UNESCO Prambanan Temple Compounds

Travel Day 686 – Yogyakarta and Prambanan on Java, INDONESIA

While exploring Yogyakarta and the Water Castle had been great, today I was off to something bigger and better, the UNESCO enlisted temples of Prambanan…

UNESCO enlisted Prambanan Temple, Loro Jonggrang, in Indonesia

But before even thinking about going to Prambanan, I still wanted to see the Kraton of Yogyakarta and luckily it was open in the morning. With the rented bike it was not only quick to get to the Katon, but also quite worth the while as there was a lot more to see than in the Kraton of Solo. While it was quite nice to walk around before the crowds arrived, by the time I was finally on the bike and doing the 17 kilometer ride towards Prambaman, it was already quite hot and sweaty…

On the bright side, it was easy to find the suggested detour along a small canal, though green fields and along small villages, while avoiding the traffic from the main road. Once getting closer, it was already possible to see the peaks of the temples hovering above the tree line, but when I fully arrived I was in for quite a big surprise. The Prambanan Temple Compound turned out to be an area with quite some massive temples, looking almost like a smaller version of Angkor Wat…

Buddhist UNESCO temple Candi Sewu of Prambanan on Java

In fact, the UNESCO enlisted compound which was called the Prambanan Archaeological Park, once consisted of over 500 temples. Since there were still a lot of other temples scattered around in the fields, I tried to focus on the main temples first and then figure out what else was possible to see in one day. Luckily the compound itself was quite compact. It was dominated by the 9^th century Hindu temple complex of Loro Jonggrang with its 47 meter tall central Shiva temple, flanked by the ones for Brama and Vishnu…

These main temples of Loro Jonggrang, depicting scenes of the Ramayana, had been completely restored, while the 240 smaller surrounding temples still lay broken into pieces, giving the impression that the massive Hindu temples were rising right out of the ruins. While the whole complex really had an Ankor Wat feel about it, the temples itself reminded strongly of the free-standing temples of India. Seeing the extent of the whole UNESCO compound and imagining how all temples must have looked like when they were still standing was really impressive, but so was the fact that some temples were actually Buddhist…

Plaosan Lor Buddhist twin temple complex by Prambanan

The second largest temple complex, Candi Sewu, not only consisted of a central Buddhist temple that was also at some point surrounded by almost 250 smaller shines, but also predated the Hindu temples as it was built already in the 8^th century. Candi Sewu was the second biggest Buddhist structure in Indonesia after Borobudur and walking through the less visited ruins with its nice statues was a really pleasant experience. In fact the ruins were so nice that I decided to carry on by bike and visit another Buddhist site, the Plaosan Lor compound…

Consisting of two restored twin temples and the ruins of some 170 smaller stupas and shines, Plaosan Lor was a really pleasant and quiet place to visit in the fields. Removed from the main UNESCO compound of Prambanan, this Buddhist temple was the perfect place to wander around, climb on the ruins and enjoy the cooler evening air while the sun was slowly setting. A bike ride back along the road in darkness concluded my busy day, but it had a really rewarding one with more temples than I ever would have expected…