Candi Prambanan in Central Java by Dr Isaac Groneman, photographs by Kassian Cephas

Title
Candi Prambanan in Central Java by Dr Isaac Groneman, photographs by Kassian Cephas
Year/Period
1893
Region
Central Java, Indonesia
Material
Dimension
Object size: H:37.3 x W:27.5 x D:5.2cm
Accession No.
2008-05938

This folio contains a rare and extensive photographic survey of the Javanese-Hindu Candi Prambanan (also known as Candi Lara Jonggrang) on the Prambanan Plains, around 20 kilometres east of Yogyakarta. This Borobudur associated site was built in the 9th century. The research was complied by Dr. Isaac Groneman, a Dutch medical doctor who wrote many books about Javanese history and culture. He was also the Honorary President of the Archaelogical Society in Yogyakarta at the time when society undertook the excavation of the Prambanan temples from 1889 to 1890. Dr. Groneman was assisted by pioneer Indonesian photographer Kassian Cephas, who was responsible for the pictorial documentation of the project. Cephas was also the court photographer to the Sultan at Yogyakarta. This portfolio details the temple and sculptured reliefs narrating the Hindu epic tale, the ‘Ramayana’, within the complexes of the Candi Prambanan.