Prambanan is a collection of massive Hindu temples (candi) built by the Mataram Kingdom, rulers of central Java and defeaters of the Sailendra Dynasty.
Prambanan was designated at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 and its global profile as a tourist attraction rose markedly in the 1990s. In the wake of the May 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, some parts of Prambanan sustained significant damage.
There is a legend that Javanese people always tell about this temple. This folk legend tells about a story of a prince called Bandung Bondowoso who wanted to marry the daughter of King Boko, Roro Jonggrang . Bandung Bondowoso insisted on the union, and finally Roro Jonggrang was forced to agree but she posed one impossible condition: Bandung must build her a thousand temples in only one night. With the assistance of sprints, Bundung Bondowoso succeeded in building 999 buildings. When he almost completed the last temple, Roro Jonggrang ordered the palace maids to begin pounding rice and set a fire in the east of the temple. This is an attempt to make the Prince and the spirits believe that the sun was about to rise. As the cocks began to crow, fooled by the light and the sounds of morning time, the supernatural helpers fled back into the ground. The prince was furious about the trick and in revenge he cursed Roro Jonggrang to stone. She became the last and the most beautiful of the thousand statues. According to the traditions, the unfinished thousandth temple created by the demons become the Sewu Temple and the Princess is the image of Durga in the north cell of the Shiva temple at Prambanan, which is still known as Rara Jonggrang or Slender Virgin.
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