Ratu Boko is located on a plateau, about three kilometres south of Prambanan temple complex in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

[2] Probably the site was a palace complex which belonged to the Shailendra dynasty or Mataram Kingdom that also built temples scattered across the Prambanan Plain.

de Graff, in the 17th century there were many European travelers to Java, who mentioned that there existed an archeological site related to certain King Boko.

In 1790, a Dutch researcher, F. Van Boeckholtz was the first to discover the archaeological ruins on top of Ratu Boko Hill.

The hill itself is the northwestern branch of the Sewu Mountains, located in the southern part of Central and East Java between Yogyakarta and Tulungagung.

The publication of the discovery attracted scientists such as Colin Mackenzie, Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn, and Brumun to conduct research and exploration on the site in the year 1814.

[1] Rakai Panangkaran was a pious follower of Mahayana Buddhism, a Dhyani Buddha statue was discovered on the site, which confirmed its initial Buddhist nature.

According to the Shivagrha inscription issued by Rakai Kayuwangi on 12 November 856, the place was used as a defensive fort, consisting of hundreds of stacked stones.

The Ratu Boko complex consists of gopura (gates), paseban, pools, pendhapa, pringgitan, kaputren (women's quarter), and meditation caves.

The central section of the compound consists of the main gates, a crematorium temple, a pool, a stone pedestal and the paseban (or audience hall).

The southeast part covers the pendopo (attached open pavilion), balai-balai (public hall or building), three miniature temples, a pool and a walled compound popularly named by locals as kaputren (women's quarter).

[1] At Ratu Boko, traces of probable secular structures have been found, which were erected on a plateau divided into terraces, separated from each other by stone walls and stone-faced ramparts (talud).

The structural remains in the terrace at Ratu Boko site consist of places with folk names connected with palaces such as paseban (reception pavilion), pendopo (audience hall) and kaputren (women's quarter).

The second terrace, separated from the first by andesite wall, is reached through a gateway in paduraksa form consisting of three doors, a larger central one flanked by two of lesser dimensions.

This small temple probably served a religious purpose, as some kind of Hindu or Buddhist shrine in the Ratu Boko complex.

On the eastern side of pendopo on the lower terrace, there are several andesite stone walled enclosures with paduraksa gates and a gallery leading to the several pools within.

This structure is associated by local folks as kaputren (women's quarter), since the pool is believed to be the pleasure garden for king and his concubines.

Ratu Boko site has yielded many smaller artifacts including statues, both Hindu (Durga, Ganesha, Garuda, a Linga and a Yoni) and Buddhist (three unfinished Dhyani Buddhas).

According to the traditions, she is the image of Durga in the north cell of the Shiva temple at Prambanan, which is still known as Loro Jonggrang ("Slender Maiden").