Prambanan temple, or candi, will need to be dismantled and rebuilt due to damage in the recent Yogyakarta earthquake.

Located mid-way between the city of Yogyakarta and town of Klaten Prambanan, constructed in about 850 AD, is said to be in need of complete dismantling and rebuilding by the Ancient Heritage Preservation Agency, Radio Netherlands says [1]. Timbul Haryono, a professor of archeology at Gajah Mada University explained that the historic Hindu era temple had sunk 10 cm’s due to the quake on May 27th.

For Prambanan temple to remain beautiful for a long time, all the reliefs must be taken down and the foundation must be made more solid before the reliefs can be arranged as before.

Agus Waluyo, head of the Yogyakarta Ancient Heritage Preservation Agency, said that an in-depth study into Prambanan’s condition would be carried out. However, the decision to dismantle all parts of the temple or only some parts of it still awaits the study. Agus said his agency had been busy identifying all ancient heritage sites in the Jogjakarta area which were severely damaged due to the earthquake.

Candi Prambanan.

Additionally, he said, the agency had to quickly recover ancient reliefs and stone carvings which broken off and fell to the ground, in order to forestall thieving.

This rescue is important because of the risk of ancient reliefs being stolen

Not only Prambanan but other Hindu temples in the region, relics and reminders of a glorious culture, such as Plaosan, Sojiwan, and Sewu, also will have to undergo radical repairs and renovation.

No restoration work has begun on Candi Prambanan as of April 2007. A team from Unesco are currently still surveying the site attempting to work out the best way to restore it. It is not clear when restoration work will begin, nor where funding for it will come from. [2]

1. ↑1 ranesi
2. ↑2 suaramerdeka

Tags: Java, Religion, Yogyakarta