CANDI CETHO
Desa Ceto, Kecamatan Jenawi
Kabupaten Karanganyar

CETHO TEMPLE 

Finding Purity at 1400 m Altitude

 In Java language, cetho means clear or pure. Thriving over 1400 meters above the sea level on the slope of the Mount Lawu, Cetho Temple can only be reached by a narrow pavement road which is steep and curve. The anxiety and afraid would be paid off when you reach the temple complex. The mild mountain air and the breakthrough scenery would accompany your trip enjoying the temple.

A high gate standing elegantly under the sky will bring your memory to the temple's gates in the God's island, Bali. The gatekeeper statues look like pre historic statues. The temple, standing on a terraces land, was built at the end of the Majapahit Kingdom under the Brawijaya V reign. In one of the terraces, there is a rock stacked with a carved of the sun depicting the Majapahit's Sun, the symbol of Majapahit kingdom. This temple was first discovered as the stones ruin with 14 terraces. However 13 terraces left, 9 of them have been renovated.

As a place to worship the Siva God, this temple is decorated with a phallus statue as a symbol of Siva. There are also statues of Brawijaya V, his advisors and a configuration of 2 meters rocks in lingga and yoni shapes. The main building, trapezoid shape, is located on the highest terrace. Until this time, Cetho Temple is still used by the societies for a worship ritual place. They put their ritual sesajen (offerings, Javanese) on the statues and walks to the highest terrace for doing their ritual. Not only the scent from the offerings flowers and incenses, the fog come down from the hills covering the temple area gives mysterious and mystic aura to this temple.

Sarasvati Goddess from Bali

 The fog began to come and the thick clouds started to wander in the sky up there, but it didn't make YogYES cancel the plan to visit Saraswati Goddess' worship palace on the hill above this temple. Got out from the side door, YogYES climbed higher to the hill. We almost lost our breath because of running up and up. Around 300 meters above, we saw the worship place which seems more like a garden. The main building is an open field with stone floor. A Saraswati Godess statue stands elegantly on a pond. With the background of pine trees, the Godness of knowledge donated from Bali province shines magical aura. On the left side, there is a narrow road pointing to Sendang Pundi Sari (Pundi Sari pond). Long time ago, Sendang Pundi Sari was functioned as a place for self-purifying/cleaning before we went to pray in the temple. There was something that makes us wanted to spend much time in this place. However it started drizzling, we couldn't imagine how difficult our trip to go down under the rain. We ran again going down the hill. The strange thing was after running for couple of hundred meters, the fog disappeared and the sun shone again. It was a very fast changing of weather.

Cetho temple is the perfect place for travelers who want to pursue the self-purifying. Watching the dwellers doing their ritual of their religion in the temple will be a truly unforgettable experience.

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Opening Hours
Monday to Sunday: 09.00 a.m. to 05.00 p.m.

Ticketing
Domestic visitor: IDR 2,500
Foreign visitor: IDR 10,000