Object description

Sewu is an eighth century Mahayana Buddhist temple located 800 metres north of Prambanan in Central Java, Indonesia. The word for a Hindu or Buddhist temple in Indonesian is "candi," hence the common name is "Candi Sewu." Candi Sewu is the second largest Buddhist temple complex in Indonesia; Borobudur is the largest. Sewu predates nearby "Loro Jonggrang" temple at Prambanan. Although the complex consists of 249 temples, this Javanese name translates to 'a thousand temples,' which originated from popular local folklore . Archaeologists believe the original name for the temple compound to be Manjusrigrha.