Sambisari temple

There are many famous ancient Hindu temples in Indonesia, such as Borobudur temple or Prambanan temple. These two temples are already becoming the main attraction in DI Jogjakarta. Many international tourists or national tourists usually go there to see the beautiful scene. If you also like to see ancient temples then you should come to Sambisari temple. Sambisari temple is located about 5.5 km from the west side of Prambanan temple. After it disappeared for centuries because of mount Merapi’s explosion. In July 1966 a farmer went to his rice field and when he started to dig the ground, he accidentally found it. After that, this temple got a reconstruction and the reconstruction was completed in 1986.

The unique thing is that the temple is buried 6.5 m under the ground and it doesn’t have any real foot temple. Unlike other temples that have real foot. In this temple there is one main ancient Hindu and three Perwara temples. Inside it there is a room with Lingga and Yoni statues in the middle. These two statues are an aspect from Siwa, a destruction god in Hindu religion. Beside that the statues also present fertility and totality. Outside every main temple walls there are many statues. For example there are Durga (Death’s god) statue, Ganesha (god of knowledge) statue, or Siwa Mahaguru (a priest that became one of Siwa's aspect) statue. From all the research, experts think that Sambisari temple had already existed from 812 AD until 838 AD. But they still are not sure as to who built the Sambisari temple.

When I came to this temple, it was not as big as Borobudur temple but it was a very beautiful and an artistic temple, especially the statues on the outside wall. There also weren’t many statues that had been stool because Sambisari temple is not as famous as Borobudur temple. So if next time you go to Prambanan temple, I suggest you also come to Sambisari temple, because it has a different attraction and has many unique statues.

Source : Unit Taman Wisata Candi Prambanan, “kompleks Percandian Prambanan”