YOGYAKARTA—The Prambanan temple complex was built in the 9th century and includes temples dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva with reliefs depicting episodes from the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic. And, as if lifted from the pages of such a legend of destruction and rebirth, fears have arisen that powerful flowing volcanic mud produced by Mount Merapi, the volcano that erupted in October and November, could now destroy the historic structures.
Dewi S. Sayudi, an official with the Volcanic Technology Development and Research Center, said that there is a serious threat to Prambanan because the nearby Opak and Gendol Rivers are carrying large amounts of volcanic debris, called lahar, the Jakarta Post reports. "The lahar that we have seen so far is just the tip. The flows carry only a small portion of the thick layers of volcanic debris from the slopes of Merapi," he stated.
Lahars act like concrete, flowing when carried by water but becoming solid when deposited on land. Mount Merapi's recent eruptions were the most powerful in a century and are estimated to have spewed over five billion cubic feet of volcanic debris. Now, as Indonesia heads into the rainy season, rain has caused this debris to flow from the volcano's peak, creating a wall of lahar in the Opak River that measures a little less than a mile wide and over six miles long.
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Prambanan temple officials are continuing to monitor the flow of the Opak River but no special precautions have been taken. Bambang Hargono, head of the Serayu-Opak River Region Agency, told the Jakarta Post that all the dams set up to stop volcanic debris were at full capacity, and that his agency plans "to dredge the river to normalize the stream and reduce the risk of lahar next year." But Rajan Zed Prambanan, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, is alarmed by the danger and issued a statement asking UNESCO — which has designated Prambanan as a World Heritage Site — to intervene to save this "world archaeological treasure."
Debris from Mount Merapi is only the latest potential danger in a centuries-long series of catastrophes to befall Prambanan, which is located on the border of Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces. Historians believe that the temple complex was built around 850 by the Hindu Sanjaya dynasty to mark its return to power after replacing the Buddhist Sailendra dynasty. When the court left the region — possibly due to the eruption of Mount Merapi — the site was abandoned. The temples were damaged in the 16th century after an earthquake, and in the 19th century stones from the structures were frequently looted. The most significant temples were reconstructed in the 20th century, with the work finished only in the 1990s. The Java earthquake of May 2006 damaged the site, and many of the temples are still off-limits for safety reasons.
With the tall, pointed spires that are characteristic of Hindu sacred architecture, Prambanan's tallest structure is the temple to Shiva the Destroyer, which measures 154 feet high. Traditional Javanese dance has been performed at the site during every full moon since the 1960s and helped to make Prambanan a favorite archaeological and cultural destination.
