In the years 800 of our time, when Europe was suffering from the dark middle ages, culture in Indonesia was high and ample. Magnificent temples were built, and the Prambanan complex of Yogyakarta is a very fine example of that: it is a vast domain of spiritual buildings, several square kilometers wide.
It cannot be a coincidence that the Prambanan complex of temples was located near the Merapi volcano. Divine spirits always search the company of each other. In the direction of the volcano, a smaller but exquisit elegant temple was built, the very charming Candi Sambisari.
And then suddenly Gunung Merapi got angry, and spew ashes for many weeks, covering the surrounding areas with meters high of ashes, that turned into fresh soil. The eruptions completely covered the beautiful Candi Sambisari and nobody dared to uncover the temple, since Gunung Merapi wanted it to be covered. And people forgot that there was this elegant temple underneath the soil.
The temple emerged in July 1966 by a farmer when working on land that belongs to Karyowinangun. His hoe hit the carved stone which was a part of the buried temple ruins. The news of discovery reached the Archeology office in Prambanan and the area was secured. The excavation and reconstruction works were completed in March 1987. The discovery of Sambisari temple probably was the most exciting archaeological findings in Yogyakarta in recent years, leading to speculation about whether there are other ancient temples still underground in the vicinity, buried under Mount Merapi volcanic ash.
