Sukuh temple has a distinctive thematic reliefs from other candi where life before birth and sexual education are its main theme. Its main monument is a simple pyramid structure with reliefs and statues in front of it, including three tortoises with flattened shells and a male figure grasping his penis. A giant 1.82 m (6 ft) high of
lingga (
phallus) with four testes, representing
penile incisions,
was one of the statues that has been relocated to the
National Museum of Indonesia.
The central pyramid of the complex sits at the rear of the highest of three terraces. Originally, worshippers would have accessed the complex through a gateway at the western or lowest terrace. To the left of the gate is a carving of a monster eating a man, birds in a tree, and a dog, which is thought to be a
chronogram representing 1437 CE, the likely date of the temple's consecration. There is an obvious depiction of
sexual intercourse in a relief on the floor at the entrance where it shows a paired
lingam which is represented physiologically by the (
phallus) and
yoni, which is represented bodily by the (
vagina). Genitalia are portrayed on several statues from the site, which is unique among Javanese classical monuments.
The main structure of Sukuh temple is like no other ancient edifice; it is a truncated
pyramid reminiscent of a Maya monument and surrounded by
monoliths and meticulously carved life-sized figures. The Sukuh temple does not follow the Hindu architecture Wastu Vidya because it was built after the Hindu religion had weakened. Temples usually have a rectangular or square shape, but Sukuh temple is a trapezium with three terraces, with one terrace higher than the others.
A stone stairway rises through the front side of the pyramid to its summit. It is not known what the monument's unique shape was intended to symbolize. One suggestion is that it represents a mountain. There is no evidence that the main building supported a wooden structure. The only object recovered from its summit was a 1.82-metre
linggastatue bearing an inscription and it is now in the
National Museum of Indonesia). The statue may once have stood on the platform over the stairway. The
lingga statue has a dedicated inscription carved from top to bottom representing a
vein followed by a chronogram date equivalent to 1440. The inscription translates "
Consecrationof the
Holy Ganges sudhi in ... the sign of masculinity is the essence of the world."
Reliefs of a
kris blade, an eight-pointed sun and a
crescent moondecorate the statue.
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