Snapshots - Prambanan Indonesia
He's happy the end of the work day is here. This grinning fellow can be found on one of the terraces of the Prambanan Temple in Central Java, Indonesia.
Prambanan is interesting as it's an 8th century Hindu temple and evidence that Indian and Hindu influence had spread as far as Java during that time.
The temple complex is made up of numerous shrines and three large temples each dedicated to one of the deities in the Hindu trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Siva.
Many of the temples were severely damaged in the 2006 earthquake that affected Central Java. When I visited in 2008, there was a Japanese consortium that was working to restore the temple to its pre-earthquake state.
They had clearly spent some time documenting the damage that had occurred and shared it with visitors using these signs.
I took this picture to show how much work there was left to do. These piles of stones came from shrines that had been shaken to the ground. The consortium obviously spent time neatly grouping rubble from individual shrines together, so they could be rebuilt at a later stage.
A number of the temples and shrines were closed as it was too dangerous to go inside. The statue, above, was in one of the temples that was open to visitors. I believe it’s Vishnu.
Despite the scaffolding and rebuilding work, it was a fascinating place to visit. I would like to go back and see it again, once the place has been restored.
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