500 Lohan Temple: Patung Seribu in Tanjungpinang, Bintan

The 500 Lohan Temple sits in Tanjungpinang, on the southern part of Bintan Island. Its official name is Vihara Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, but locals and travelers usually call it 500 Lohan Temple, or Patung Seribu, which means “thousand statues” in Indonesian.

The name comes from the temple’s main feature: rows of stone Lohan, or Arhat, statues arranged across the grounds. Each statue has its own facial expression and posture, carved from granite and brought over from China. No two look exactly alike, which is part of what makes walking through the rows worthwhile.

Past the entrance statue, the temple opens into a fortress-like structure shaped like a pagoda. Stone reliefs along the walls depict Buddha’s spiritual journey, and various Buddhist deity statues are placed throughout the grounds alongside the Lohans.

The upper viewing platform on the main temple building is no longer open to visitors, so the main experience is walking the statue rows and temple grounds at ground level.

A full visit usually takes somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes, depending on how closely someone wants to look at each statue and read the accompanying carvings. A small stall on site sells drinks and instant noodles for anyone who wants to rest partway through.

The temple sits on a hill, so the grounds get some open sun with limited shade in most areas. Bringing water and dressing modestly is worth planning for, and the stone paths can get slippery after rain, so sturdier footwear helps on wetter days.

The 500 Lohan Temple is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. It’s closed on Mondays, except when a Monday falls on a public holiday.

Getting to the temple depends on where a traveler is staying. From Tanjungpinang city itself, it’s a short trip.

From the Bintan Resorts area or Lagoi, it’s a longer drive, which is why most visitors combine it with other stops rather than making it a standalone trip. It’s included as one of the stops on the Bintan Full Day Tour,

or travelers can add it to a  custom trip request built around their own itinerary and other places they want to see in Bintan.