A Won­der of Indo­ne­sia Histo­ry
The magni­ficent Boro­bu­dur temp­le is the world’s big­gest Bud­dhist monu­ment, an anci­ent site wide­ly con­si­de­red to be one of the world’s seven won­ders. Built in the 9th cen­tu­ry during the reign of the Syai­len­dra dynas­ty, the temple’s design in Gupta archi­tec­tu­re reflec­ts India’s influ­ence on the regi­on, yet the­re are enough indi­ge­nous sce­nes and ele­ments incor­po­ra­ted to make Boro­bu­dur uni­que­ly Indo­ne­si­an. This awe inspi­ring monu­ment is tru­ly a mar­vel. After a visit here you will under­stand why it is Indonesia’s most visi­ted tou­rist attrac­tion and a famous icon of Indonesia’s cul­tu­ral heri­ta­ge.

Loca­ted on the island of Java, the temp­le sits majes­ti­cal­ly on a hill­top over­loo­king lush green fields and distant hills. It covers an enor­mous area, mea­su­ring 123 x 123 meters. The monu­ment is a mar­vel of design, deco­ra­ted with 2,672 reli­ef panels and 504 Bud­dha sta­tu­es. The archi­tec­tu­re and stone­work of this temp­le has no equal. And it was built wit­hout using any kind of cement or mor­tar! The struc­tu­re is like a set of mas­si­ve inter­lo­cking Lego blocks held tog­e­ther wit­hout any glue.

The temp­le has remai­ned strong even through ten cen­tu­ries of neglect. It was redis­co­ve­r­ed in 1815, buried under vol­ca­nic ash. In the 1970’s the Indo­ne­si­an Government and UNESCO worked tog­e­ther to res­to­re Boro­bu­dur to its for­mer majes­ty The res­to­ra­ti­on took eight years to com­ple­te and today Boro­bu­dur is one of Indo­ne­sia and the world’s most valu­able trea­su­res.

The temp­le is deco­ra­ted with stone car­vings in bas-reli­ef rep­re­sen­ting images from the life of Bud­dha. Com­men­ta­tors claim that this is the lar­gest and most com­ple­te ensem­ble of Bud­dhist reli­efs in the world, unsur­pas­sed in artis­tic merit.

This monu­ment is both a shri­ne to the Lord Bud­dha and a place for Bud­dhist pil­grimage. The ten levels of the temp­le sym­bo­li­ze the three divi­si­ons of the religion’s cos­mic sys­tem. As visi­tors begin their jour­ney at the base of the temp­le, they make their way to the top of the monu­ment through the three levels of Bud­hist cos­mo­lo­gy,

1. Kama­dha­tu (the world of desi­re);
2. Rupad­ha­tu (the world of forms); and
3. Aru­pad­ha­tu (the world of form­less­ness)

As visi­tors walk to the top the monu­ment gui­des the pil­grims past 1,460 nar­ra­ti­ve reli­ef panels on the wall and the balus­tra­des.

The who­le monu­ment its­elf resem­bles a giant stu­pa, but seen from above it forms a man­da­la. The gre­at stu­pa at the top of the temp­le sits 40 meters above the ground. This main dome is sur­roun­ded by 72 Bud­dha sta­tu­es sea­ted insi­de per­fo­ra­ted stu­pa.

His­to­ri­ans sug­gest that the name of Boro­bu­dur comes from the Sans­krit ‘Viha­ra Bud­dha Uhr’ or the ‘Bud­dhist monas­te­ry on the hill’.

To see images of the magni­ficent Boro­bu­dur Temp­le, visit our Pho­to essay: Boro­bu­dur: The colos­sal Monu­ment of Bud­dha