The village of Prambanan lies seventeen kilometers east of Yogyakarta on the main road to Solo.

The principal temple given its size and importance, is Candi Prambanan, sometime refered as Candi Joro Jonggrang, and is clearly visible from the left of the road.

Prambanan is an enormous complex with three enclosures. There is one surviving entrance, now incorporated with the buildiing for the modern theater for the Ramayana ballet.

The second enclosure contain the ruins of 224 shrines known as the Candi Perwara. The inner enclosure has a central shrine dedicated to Siva. The main shrine, like the rest, when Raffles visited it (and it seems to have been the first person in modern times to have taken interest in the monument of Java) was covered in vegetation and 'is at present a mass of ruins'. The shrine has now been restored and is magnificient.