Few Englishmen Are Aware Of The Number And Beauty Of The
Architectural Remains In Java.
They have never been popularly
illustrated or described, and it will therefore take most persons
by surprise to learn that they far surpass those of Central
America, perhaps even those of India.
To give some idea of these
ruins, and perchance to excite wealthy amateurs to explore them
thoroughly and obtain by photography an accurate record of their
beautiful sculptures before it is too late, I will enumerate the
most important, as briefly described in Sir Stamford Raffles'
"History of Java."
BRAMBANAM. - Near the centre of Java, between the native capitals
of Djoko-kerta and Surakerta, is the village of Brambanam, near
which are abundance of ruins, the most important being the
temples of Loro-Jongran and Chandi Sewa. At Loro-Jongran there
were twenty separate buildings, six large and fourteen small
temples. They are now a mass of ruins, but the largest temples
are supposed to have been ninety feet high. They were all
constructed of solid stone, everywhere decorated with carvings
and bas-reliefs, and adorned with numbers of statues, many of
which still remain entire. At Chandi Sewa, or the "Thousand
Temples," are many fine colossal figures. Captain Baker, who
surveyed these ruins, said he had never in his life seen "such
stupendous and finished specimens of human labour, and of the
science and taste of ages long since forgot, crowded together in
so small a compass as in this spot." They cover a space of nearly
six hundred feet square, and consist of an outer row of eighty-
four small temples, a second row of seventy-six, a third of
sixty-four, a fourth of forty-four, and the fifth forming an
inner parallelogram of twenty-eight, in all two hundred and
ninety-six small temples; disposed in five regular
parallelograms.
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