Last Saturday, July 13th 2008, I accompanied our campus’ guest-Prof. Erich Lehner from TU Wien, Austria-for visiting Prambanan-Sewu temples Complex and Ratu Boko Complex. A wonderful experience I got, do you know why? Because he taught me about the temple architecture and compare it to others temple and culture around the world I was not too concern with temple architecture, till he showed and told me about many uniqueness it has.
Let me told you some:
- If you see the Prambanan temple plan, everybody will think that it is arranged symmetrical north-south and east-west. East is always the main orientation of temple architecture-he told that almost in all world traditional culture east direction influence its architecture symbolically. In Prambanan temple plan that I inserted here, I make an axis line and you will find out that the temple is put more to north side rather right in the east-west axis (luckily, the book’s picture already draw the axis line). I asked ‘why?’. He told me one possibility that made by researchers. In the main temple (Siwa or Lara Djonggrang temple), we will see two small building that flank the gate. In the left side (south side)-see the red rectangle in the picture, it was found the king body’s ash. And this small building lies right on the east west axis and rules other temple symmetrical composition.
- To be continued … (sorry I will continue it soon)