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Dieng Plateau Travel Guide
Indonesia's "Mount Olympus" is Dieng Plateau, which literally means "Abode of the Gods" for housing Central Java's oldest shrines dedicated to Shiva, the Supreme God of Hinduism. The plateau's eight Hindu temples from 7th to 8th century are Java's first known standing stone structures. They are a part of the originally 400 Sanjaya Dynasty temples named after the characters of a Hindu legend similar to the famous Mahabharata and Ramayana. These structures are believed to have served as templates in building more elaborate masterpieces such as the World Heritage shrines of Prambanan and Borobudur, which are several bus rides away from Dieng.
Dieng Plateau's altitude of 2,000 meters above sea level makes it a cool, misty center stage for Hindu worship. Masks portraying Javanese demons and aquatic monsters are eerily displayed on the temples' doorways. The sulfuric gases and lakes from a surrounding active volcano, Dieng, may be poisonous; but for hundreds of pilgrims climbing to the plateau each year, the waft of sulfur even signals an auspicious day for religious rites.
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