Description of the attraction
Gedong Songo Temple is a Hindu temple located in the province of Central Java. A more precise location is the village of Kandy, at the foot of Mount Ungaran.
This temple was built in the Middle Ages, during the era of the Mataram state, which controlled the province of Central Java during the 8th-9th centuries. Gedong Songo is built of volcanic stone and its buildings are the oldest Hindu structures on the island of Java. The name Gedong Songo is translated from Javanese as "a temple of nine buildings", but in fact (according to some sources) there are more than nine buildings, so it would be correct to call Gedong Songo a temple complex.
The temple complex is located on the Dieng Plateau, a humid highland plain located in the center of Java. The Dieng Plateau is of volcanic origin and is located at an altitude of 2093 meters above sea level. To be more precise, the plateau is a caldera that was formed as a result of a volcanic eruption many millennia ago. There used to be a lake on this territory, but then it dried up.
At this place, the local population at the end of the 8th century built Hindu temples, according to some sources there were more than 100 of them. Unfortunately, not all of them have survived to this day. There are other temples on the plateau that were built earlier than Gedong Songo, these are Prambanan and Borobudur.
The largest temple, Gedong Songo, is dedicated to the god Shiva, in front of the entrance to this temple there is a separate smaller temple, and it is dedicated to the bull of the god Shiva - Nandi. This temple complex has a hot sulphurous bath for guests to take a dip in.
