Candi Jabung stands near the northern coast of East Java, and it does not look like most Javanese temples. Where the classical candi presents a square cell under a stepped roof, Jabung raises a cylindrical body on a square terraced base, an elegant and rather rare solution executed entirely in red brick. The surfaces are worked with mouldings, false niches and decorative panels cut directly into the brick, a technique demanding a different discipline from the carved volcanic stone used in central Java, and the state of preservation allows that craftsmanship to be studied closely. The temple belongs to the East Javanese tradition of the later Hindu-Buddhist period, when brick building and slender vertical proportions became the norm. The film observes the structure from every side, follows the light as it grazes the mouldings through the day, and sets the monument within its village surroundings, where a temple that once served a court now stands among houses, gardens and daily traffic.
