Wallow in Red Rat Temple
By Going home from my personal educational tour around Jombang city, I made a stop at the heritage sites of former Majapahit Kingdom, at Trowulan Village, Mojokerto regency, East Java Province. It’s not far from Pacet.
Finding such sites is easy. Once we reach Trowulan, we will see many signposts direct to unique and historic places around: Majapahit Monastery, Segaran Pool, and other temples. Among those interesting sites, I visited Candi Tikus (the Rat Temple). It is located at southern of Trowulan Village, about 1.5 kilometers from the Surabaya-Mojokerto main road.
Entering Candi Tikus, soon a well-decorated garden greeted me. So friendly. So calm. So relaxing. If you go to Candi Tikus on weekdays like I did, indeed, it would not be crowded. This is such nuance preferred by the explorers and researchers. Otherwise you want a bustling atmosphere, just go on holidays.
Candi Tikus perhaps is the most exciting recent archaeological finding at Trowulan. Its discovery happened in 1914. The government subsequently restored to its present condition in 1985 and 1989.
According to a folk whom I interviewed, they named it “rat” because there was the rampant rats, destroying hectares of people’s paddy. Trowulan farmers were then so pissed off. They had been hunting the pests. Until a big hole on the ground was founded. This must be rat’s nest, they concluded. So they excavated it. Surprisingly, there was sort of bathhouse down there.
Matter of fact, Candi Tikus had actually been a ritual bathing pool for the Majapahit’s princess. The complex made of red bricks in form of a sunken, rectangular basin, into which a flight of steps descends on the northern side. It is decorated by the exotic animal’s head-shaped fountains.
Those bricks look sturdy, although we do not see the mixture cement as the adhesive. One of Indonesian history’s masterpiece. [photos by Ihsan]
Good pics and info
Just curiousity my friend
Those bricks look like today’s unfinished house or something
Was it really built in Majapahit era?
San! You were at Mojokerto. Why didn’t you visit Asrori too?
@Ace Dody: yes, as i know and as i read in there, it was built in Majapahit Era.
@Brahmanto: off course i want, but i don’t know where is the residence
Ihsan Maulana´s last blog ..Empty Ness Syndrom Dalam Putus Cinta
Wow, this is exelent experience. tq 4 d’ info
Super,its a very good
[...] Province. There’s only two famous places at that regency: Trowulan or Pacet. Iksan had been at Trowulan, so we chose Pacet. Many interesting sites there, actually. Unfortunately, we visited only Watu [...]