Prambanan

We ventured to Prambanan one afternoon to the ninth century Hindu temple. It was hot and sticky and the bus crowded, but the site wasn’t far from Jogja.

One of Prambanan’s gopurams

I was surprised how people walked over a structure that was more than a thousand years old. Like India, Indonesia had ancient structures for most of the major religions—proof of the country’s connection with India over the past millennia. This temple could have been transplanted directly from India as it had many of the same architectural features such as intricately carved gopurams like those in South India. While aspects of Indonesian symbols were carved into the structures, most featured Hindu deities.