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Photo: Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
It is the largest and most-visited of the temples just to the left of the main entrance. While there were 237 temples built, most have long since crumbled and the main remaining attractions are the six temples of the central court, richly decorated with carved reliefs. Three of them, known as the Trimurti ("three sacred places"), are particularly important. About 2- 4-hr visit if doing all temples and museum.
Prambanan is a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, in southern Java, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimūrti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu), and the Destroyer (Shiva). The temple compound is located approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of Yogyakarta on the boundary between Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces.
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An open-air theatre inside the park, just west of Candi Prambanan right across the Opak river, has ballet Javanese dance performances of the great Hindu epic Ramayana on four nights during each full moon between May and October (dry season). The performance involves around 200 artists; dancers and gamelan musicians for about 2 hours, and is performed on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights. This performance, set against the starry sky and the lit backdrop of Prambanan with new LED lighting, is quite spell-binding. Enquire at travel agents locally or at your hotel for tickets and times. During the rainy season (November to April) the performance is held in the smaller indoor Trimurti theatre.
North of Candi Lara Jonggrang is a poorly displayed museum laid out in a series of small houses connected by walkways. Explanations are minimal, mostly only Indonesian text, but entry is free so you might as well take a look.
A large Buddhist temple complex meaning "one thousand temples", is one kilometre north of the entrance gate and contains a large central temple surrounded by a cluster of smaller ones. Despite its name, the complex only consists of 249 temples. The size of the renovated and intricately decorated central temple is impressive but the statue niches are all empty. Take note of the Borobudur style stupas. Entrance from the east side only.
Rich in statues, bas-reliefs and sculpted stones. Frequent representations of children or dwarfs with raised hands. In the middle of housing complex. Under restoration since 1997.