Batu Caves facts that might surprise you

The limestone forming Batu Caves dates back around 400 million years, making it older than most life forms on Earth. Over time, rainwater slowly dissolved the rock, carving out chambers, passages, and cave formations like stalactites and stalagmites.

The caves contain fossils of marine life from prehistoric seas, including corals and trilobites. Fossils of extinct mammals, like early rodents and even orangutans and tigers, have been found in some of the smaller caves. These discoveries help researchers understand what the region was like thousands of years ago.

The Batu Caves trapdoor spider (Liphistius batuensis) is found only in Batu Caves and a nearby cave. It’s considered a living fossil and belongs to one of the world’s oldest spider families. It builds silk-lined burrows with trapdoors and relies on vibrations to catch its prey.

The giant golden statue at the entrance is Lord Murugan, a Hindu deity. At 42.7 meters tall, it’s the tallest statue of Lord Murugan in Malaysia and one of the tallest globally. Built between 2004 and 2006, it's become one of the most photographed landmarks in the country.

The main chamber known as Temple Cave or Cathedral Cave has a ceiling over 100 meters high. Natural light filters in through an opening in the roof, lighting up Hindu shrines below. The scale alone is enough to impress even those who aren’t religious.

In the 1860s, an Indian worker reportedly dreamt of Lord Murugan seeking a place of worship. Inspired by this and the cave’s spear-like entrance, local trader K. Thamboosamy Pillai established a shrine inside in 1890. That small shrine eventually became today’s major pilgrimage site.

In the early days, visitors had to climb the rocky hill without steps. Wooden staircases were installed in 1920, then replaced with the current concrete steps in 1940. The colorful paint job came much later, in 2018, turning the staircase into an Instagram favorite. To improve accessibility, there are plans to build an escalator next to the main steps.