The local Javanese villagers has been aware of the temple's ruin presence since 19th-century. The first official observations were conducted by Dutch archeologist Holpermand in 1874. In 1911, Van Erp mentioned Ngawen temple in his commentary, that the temples were destroyed by a Mount Merapi eruption. PJ Perquin, another Dutch archeologist, studied Ngawen in 1925 and successfully restored one of the five temples; the northern main temple (temple No.2).