Muara Jambi Temple – Lego Land in Progress

Muara Jambi = Large Lego Land!

Muara Jambi Temple is an important Hindu-Buddhist site located about 25 kilometres south of the town of Jambi, in central Sumatra.

It’s another not-well-known gem that exists on this large island, much like the Muara Takus Temple near Pekanbaru.

Muara Jambi Temple is well off the tourist track – there is no defined public transport to the park.  You have to get there on your own.

But it’s not that hard – getting there is half the fun.

This is how:

Go up to a motorcycle taxi (or ojek) in Jambi city and ask him to take you to Muara Jambi Temple.  Specify the Temple, not the town of Muara Jambi itself.

This guy’s name is Pendi, and he was fantastic.  He hadn’t been to Muara Jambi for 15 years, since he was in school.  I only expected him to provide the transport, but he ended up becoming my tour guide by default.

The ojek ride will take you to the edge of the Batang Hari river.

Load the bike, the driver, and yourself onto the pump boat for a 5 minute ride across the river.

Have one of the local residents show you around.  Actually, they will want to show you around.

Muara Jambi Pictures

Eight temples have been identified so far at the Muara Jambi Temple site.  Most of them are a work in progress of restoration, such as the Candi (which means temple) Kedaton.

Restoration is slow, and is all done via hand – by shovels and barrows.

These guys are hard workers and were slogging their guts out trying to assemble this massive version of Lego Land.

Restoration has been going on ages, and it doesn’t look like finishing soon.

Many of the temples are still buried underneath the forest.  Many of the discovered temples exist like this:

There are probably loads more temples buried within the jungle that haven’t been discovered yet, but the restorers are busy enough with the work they have already. The bricks used to build the temples are often scattered around the site.

Muara Jambi is about 1000 years old and was capital of the ancient kingdom of Malayu.  It was stumbled upon by a British Army search of the region in the 1920s.

The site covers a massive 12 square kilometres.

I had this magnificent place to myself for the entire time I was there.  I did not see one other foreigner there at all!

Many artefacts form the site are housed in the nearby museum, whilst others have been moved to Jakarta.

If you’re ever around the Jambi area in central Sumatra, Indonesia, check out the Muara Jambi Temple – it’s well worth the trip!

More Muara Jambi Stuff

You can read more about it via the Chandi Gumpung of Muara Jambi, and Indonesia: Political History and Hindu and Buddhist Cultural Influences.

Air Asia can fly you to a number of places in Indonesia so you can uncover some of these sites like I have.

Check out their website for more details!