Kalasan Temple

Why Kalasan Temple is special ?

Candi Kalasan (Candi Kalibening) is an 8th century Buddhist temple located 13 km east of Yogyakarta on the way to Prambanan temple. According to an inscription dated 778 AD, Kalasan temple is the oldest among temples built in the vicinity of Prambanan. The inscription says that Maharaja Tejapurnapana Panangkaran was persuaded by a guru to erect a temple devoted to goddess Tara with a buddhist monastery. This monastery might be the nearby located Candi Sari. Despite being renovated and partially rebuilt during the Dutch colonial era, the temple currently is in poor condition. Compared to other temples nearby such as Prambanan, Sewu, and Sambisari the temple is not well maintained.

Source: http://www.visit360.net/

What to explore at Kalasan Temple?

The temple stands on a 45x45 meters rectangular base. Each of the four main cardinal points has stairs and gates adorned with Kala-Makara and also rooms measuring 3.5 square meters. No statue is found in the smaller room facing north, west, and south; but the lotus pedestals suggest that the rooms once must have contained statues of bodhisattvas. The temple is richly decorated with Buddhist figures such as the Bodhisattva and Gana. The Kala Figure above the southern door has been photographed and used by a many foreign academics in their books to give an idea of the skillful art in stone carving of Central Javanese artists some millennia ago. Niches where the statues would have been placed are found inside and outside the temple. The niches that adorn the outer wall are intricately carved with Kala figures, gods and divinities in a scene of the svargaloka, the celestial palace abode of the gods, apsaras, and gandharvas.

Source: http://www.indonesia.travel/

How to get to Kalasan Temple?

Kalasan temple is located roughly about 13 Km east from Yogyakarta, about 100 meters south off the main road of Yogyakarta-Solo in direction to Prambanan Temple Complex. If you want to take public transportation, you can catch the Trans Jogja Buses in many shelters in Yogyakarta with the direction to Prambanan for an IDR 3,000.

Source: http://www.indonesia.travel/