World famous temple complex damaged in quake
Indonesia’s world-renowned Prambanan temple complex, built in the 9th century, was badly damaged by the earthquake that killed thousands of people in central Indonesia, with scores of stone blocks and intricate carvings broken.
Debris from broken walls and carvings at the temple, the largest Hindu compound in Indonesia, was today scattered over the ground, with some pieces as big as a child.
It will be closed to the public until archaeologists are able to determine whether the 6.3-magnitude quake also damaged the foundation or tilted the shrines, said Agus Waluyo, head of the Yogyakarta Archaeological Conservation Agency.
“It will take months to identify the precise damage,” he said.
Pieces of small temples called “candis” also had broken off at the temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The visitors’ centre was closed, and houses and shops near the complex were badly damaged.
The temple is one of the largest Hindu compounds in Southeast Asia and one of the finest examples of predominantly Muslim Indonesia’s Hindu past.
Not long after Javanese rulers constructed the Prambanan temple in the 9th century, it was abandoned for unknown reasons and began to deteriorate.
Reconstruction of the compound began in 1918 but is unfinished. The nearby Buddhist temple of Borobudur, which appears to have escaped damage, is also a World Heritage Site.
The sites together draw more than a million tourists every year.
