The Exotic Temple at The Top of the Hill - Ijo Temple

Sunset view from the Ijo Temple

After telling you the previous two beautiful temples in Sleman, Yogyakarta, now I'll share you about the other wonderful temple which is still located in Sleman, Yogyakarta. It is Ijo Temple. The exact location of this temple is in Dusun Groyokan, Desa Sambirejo, Prambanan, Sleman.

The History

Ijo Temple or commonly called Candi Ijo is the only one temple which is located in a highest place in Yogyakarta, since it is located on the hill area which high is 375 meters above the ocean line. The name of Ijo itself came from the name of the hill, it is Bukit Ijo (Ijo Hill). The history said that this temple was built in 9th century. The building structure of this temple consists of 17 buildings which are devided into 11 terrace-stairs. The first terrace is the large yard towards the main gate . There are 8 pole-phalluses, the main temple, and three Perwara Temples at the most upper terrace. The top terrace is the most sacred one.

Temple Exploration

During your exploration, you will see that at the wall of the temple, there are reliefs which show the Hindust's story. At the top of the main gate, we can find Kala Makara motif which proves us that there was and cultural acculturation between Hindu and Buddha. The other inheritances that you can find in this temple are Lingga-Yoni which presents the biggest worship toward Dewa Siwa and his wife Dewi Parwati. Besides the great reliefs and Lingga-Yoni, the visitors can also see some statues, such as Nandi Statue (Arca Nandi) which was the vehicle of Dewa Siwa and the other statues: such as Agastya, Ganesha, and Durga.

The Inheritance

In addition, there are some uniques inheritances here, such as the relief which shows the flying man and woman (presents the holy Dewa Siwa and Dewi Parwati). This relief is a symbol in avoiding the evil-spirit. The other interesting thing is you can see one of the temple foundation which was directly chiseled on the lime-hill which is planted in the ground.

Ijo Temple - The historical inheritance

The Great View from Ijo Temple

Besides exploring the historical-religious spot, from this Ijo Temple, you can enjoy the exiting sceneries. When you look at your south-side direction, you will see a beautiful steep valley. While if you see at the west-side, automatically you can see the Adi Sucipto Airport. The scenery arround the temple will be much more wonderful when you come here at the early morning and at the evening, since you can enjoy the amazing sun-set from this tourism object.

Read also : Tebing Breksi, Sleman, Yogyakarta

                   Ratu Boko Temple-The Religious Historical Inheritance

Ticketing Price and Access

Talking about the ticketing price, it is free for the entrance, you only need to pay the parking fee which costs IDR 2.000 (for motorcycle) and IDR 3.000 (for car). While for the access to this spot, you can take public transportation such as Trans Jogja number 1 A or 1 B. The other option, you can also take ojek from Prambanan Temple since the location is not too far from here. Finally, whenever you go to Yogyakarta, especially when you have vacation in Prambanan or Ratu Boko Temple, I recommend you to come Ijo Temple also.