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fter several months of work, local authorities recently completed the first stage of the restoration of Sukuh Temple in Karanganyar regency, Central Java. They, however, left the pyramid-shaped temple lopsided to protect the original structure of the centuries-old temple.

The Central Java Cultural Heritage Preservation Center'€™s (BPCB) cultural heritage protection development and utilization section head, Gutomo, said on Monday that the restoration work, which began in June, had discovered the existence of soil and red bricks behind the temple'€™s outer rock layers.

The red bricks, which the restoration team referred to as period-I rocks, according to Gutomo, are believed to be among the first layers of the temple. The soil inside the temple, meanwhile, is believed to be from a hill that had been there before the temple was built.

'€œThat'€™s why a major dismantling [of the temple] is unnecessary. Since the temple was built, nothing had been done to the hill. It was just covered with layers of bricks that functioned like an embankment,'€ he said.

Gutomo said that the temple'€™s builders covered the embankment with 24 layers of rock, referred to as period-II rocks and stairs heading to the worship altar located at the top of the main temple.

During the restoration of the 24 rock layers, the period-I rocks were found lopsided to the northeast and southwest.

'€œWe decided to do nothing [to the period-I rocks]. We just strengthened the temple'€™s outer layers by installing concrete plats on the lopsided parts,'€ he said.

Located in Sukuh village, around 35 kilometers east of Surakarta, Central Java, the temple, which was discovered in 1815, is perched around 910 meters above sea level on the western slopes of
Mount Lawu.

Archeologists believe the Javanese-Hindu temple was constructed in the 15th century, most likely at the end of the Majapahit empire (between 1293 and 1500 CE), thought to be represented in a relief depicting a giant eating a human.

The restoration work began in June to help prevent further damage to the temple, which has sunk 20 centimeters on the northeastern side over the past few decades.

To carry out the major project, the BPCB is working with a joint team comprising Borobudur temple conservation experts, Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University archeologists and structural engineering experts and geologists from the National Development University, also in Yogyakarta.

The first stage of the restoration was completed recently after the restoration team put back seven layers of the outer rocks of the temple.

Head of BPCB'€™s restoration working group, Sudarno, who leads the temple'€™s restoration team, said the team had scheduled the reinstallment of the remaining 17 layers for next year. '€œThe schedule, however, can be a subject to change should the team discover new findings during the second stage [of the restoration],'€ Sudarno said.