The largest Buddhist monument in the world

Borobudur was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1991. It is the largest Buddhist monument in the world and it is housed within an archaeological park, located 40 km from the city of Yogyakarta on the Island of Java, in Indonesia.

_{Borobudur - A World Heritage site Monument}

A temple that represents the path for wisdom and enlightenment. There are no altars or shrines but there is a lot of beauty and in my opinion it is more beautiful than the most famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Bagan in Myanmar. A monument that impresses everyone who visits it!

_{The most beautiful temple I have ever seen}

When did it all start?

No one knows for sure, since there is no written record, but it is believed that the construction of Borobudor took place between 780 and 840 AD, when the Buddhist dynasty Sailendra, of the Mataram Kingdom, ruled this region of Java.

Borobudur sits high on a hill, surrounded by active volcanoes. The stones used in the construction of the temple are of volcanic material, a type of magmatic rock called andesite, that has a dark gray coloration and is found in the river beds of the region.

_{Surrounded by active volcanoes}

As in the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, Borobudur was erected without the use of mortar, only joining the stones together. Thus, the Javanese created their own pyramid of steps, with nine platforms in total. The six platforms below are square. The base is 123 meters on each side, and each next step has an area slightly smaller than the previous one.

_{A pyramid with 9 platforms}

The three upper platforms are circular, where we find 72 small, bell-shaped stupas with an image of Buddha inside each one. At the top, the central stupa is the highest point of Borobudur, which is 35 meters high.

_{Bell-shaped stupas at the top}

The whole of this structure forms the outline of a giant stupa*, if viewed from the side, or a huge mandala **, for those who have the opportunity to see it from above.

* Stupa, or Pagoda, is a shrine to Buddha. In many cases it is a sacred tomb, containing the remains of someone who has attained enlightenment. The stupa has a sacred form for the Buddhists, in the same way that the cross is sacred for the Christians.
** Mandala is an object of meditation, an instrument to help reaching the light.

_{Map of Borobudur in the form of a Mandala}

After the stones were embedded in their places, craftsmen carved the walls and parapets of the corridors of the square platforms of Borobudur. The base was also carved, but these motifs are hidden inside the temple structure. And the facades of the circular platforms are smooth.

_{Carved walls and parapets}

There are over 2600 relief panels. Some are only decorative, but most are narrative and form the pages of a giant book of stories, populated by kings, queens, soldiers, plebeians, villains, nymphs and demons, among others. The panels show the everyday life of the old Java. They represent life in palaces, in markets and in forests and villages. They also tell the story of mythical beings of Buddhist belief and describe the biography of Buddha.

_{The pages of a giant book}

The three Kingdoms

According to the concept of the universe in the Buddhist cosmology, the temple is divided into three kingdoms, or phases.

The base represents the "world of desires" (Kamadhatu) or the lowest level, where vulgar creatures live their lives.

The "world of the subtle form" (Rupadhatu) is represented by the other five square platforms. Here we find the beings who have already managed to get rid of worldly desires. But its inhabitants are still connected to a material form.

And finally, the "formless world" (Arupadhatu), where beings have no form and their inhabitants live in a dimension of cosmic consciousness, ready to attain nirvana. Here Buddha experienced a pure reality and, through enlightenment, reached the final state of liberation from the cycle of rebirth, or samsara. This world is represented by the three upper circular platforms and the central dome, which has the shape of a stupa.

The top of Borobudur cannot be seen from its base, just as one cannot see the end of a spiritual journey without taking the first steps. The pilgrims enter through their east door and begin to read the wall panels, from right to left, while the parapet panels must be read from left to right.

_{The top of Borobudur cannot be seen from its base}

The route of the pilgrimage passes through the system of corridors and stairs that lead to the upper platform. The faithful walk up each floor, guided by the wisdom of the relief panels, on a path to understanding, which leads to the next degree, a higher level on the journey to enlightenment.

In addition to the bas-relief motifs, craftsmen also carved many Buddha images. They were 504 in total, but unfortunately, more than 300 of these statues were damaged or have completely disappeared.

_{Some Buddha images are still intact}

_{But many are incomplete}

The threat from Nature

Borobudur sits in a region with high seismic and volcanic activity, but the temple has survived several tremors and eruptions. The last earthquake was in May 2006 and caused severe damage in the region, but the temple remained intact.

However, in 2010, Mount Merapi, which is only 28 km from the temple, entered a series of eruptions, spewing lava and volcanic ash throughout the region, and Borobudur suffered a 2.5 cm layer of highly acidic volcanic dust that could damage the monument. On this occasion, UNESCO donated USD 3 million for a thorough cleaning and the temple was closed for 5 days for the rehabilitation work to be done.

_{Mount Merapi is a nearby threat}

In 2014, the Kelud Volcano, which is more than 200 km from the temple, caused the temple to be closed again. This time workers covered the stupas and statues of the temple to protect it.

The Rediscovery and restoration of Borobudur

The civilization of the Mataram Kingdom, which built Borobudur, moved from Central Java to eastern Java around the middle of the tenth century. No one knows for certain the reason for the change, probably due to an earthquake or some great volcanic eruption. The temples of the region were abandoned and turned into ruins.

Borobudur was buried under layers of volcanic ash from Mount Merapi and the vegetation grew on its terraces. The temple was hidden for almost a thousand years, until 1814, when a Dutch engineer, under the command of an Englishman, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, "discovered it."

For many decades after its rediscovery, Borobudur served as a source for relic collectors. Sometimes they were simply stolen, but sometimes they were taken with the consent of the colonial government.

The result of this "allowed pillage" is that, today, many Buddha heads, statues and bas-relief panels are found in Western museums such as the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam and the British Museum in London. Recalling that when Borobudur was "rediscovered" by the Europeans, Indonesia was a colony of the British East India Company, but in 1815, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars the country was returned to Dutch control.

However, it was not just these two countries that took advantage of the Javanese sculptures. We can also find objects from Borobudur at the Louvre Museum, in Paris, at the National Museum of Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, and the Museum of World Religions in Taipei.

But the greatest example of the government's disregard of Borobudur at the time was when the King of Thailand, who on a visit to Indonesia, in 1896, was given consent to take home thirty pieces of bas-relief panels, five Buddha images, two lions, a guardian statue (dvarapala), among other objects. We can still find all these pieces in the National Museum of Bangkok.

_{Two of these lions are at the National Museum of Bangkok}

Fortunately, after this period of neglect, Borobudur received the attention it deserves and was restored and preserved for posterity.

The first restoration took place between 1907 and 1911, but it was a basic restoration and as the drainage problem was not solved, the temple deteriorated again and new cracks appeared, creating a danger of collapse.

_{The drainage problem needed to be solved}

The Drainage system

Indonesia decided to seek UNESCO's help and a solid restoration project was organized. Between 1975 and 1982, Borobudur was practically completely disassembled. They cleaned, catalogued, and treated every stone in the temple. They used new conservation techniques to combat the attack of microorganisms that were corroding the rocks. They stabilized the foundation and improved the drainage system.

_UNESCO

When they finished the whole process, Borobudur was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which deserves to be visited by all!

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