Prambanan is a Hindu temple compound in Central Java of Indonesia, the temple compound is located approximately 17 kilometres northeast of the city of Yogyakarta. There were once 240 temples standing in this temple complex, but only 8 main temples and 8 small shrines in the inner zone are reconstructed today.
Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple of ancient Java and Southeast Asia, and the first building was completed in the mid-9th century.
Historians suggest that the construction of Prambanan probably was meant to mark the return of the Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty to power in Central Java after almost a century of Buddhist Sailendra Dynasty domination.
Prambanan was listed as UNESCO World Heritage in 1991. The temple is characterized by its tall and pointed architecture, which attracts many visitors from around the world.
The temple is adorned with panels of narrative bas-reliefs telling the story of the Hindu epic Ramayana. The narrative bas-relief panels were carved along the inner balustrades wall on the gallery around the three main temples.
The temple was damaged during the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, although the main structure is intact, debris is still scattered over the ground nowadays.
