Word: borobudur
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Built around 1,200 years ago, Borobudur (usually translated as "temple on the hill") is an architectural jewel that Historian Arnold Toynbee ranked as the equal of the Parthenon. Very little is known of the people who built and used it, or of the reasons it was permanently abandoned in 1006 after an earthquake and the eruption of the nearby Merapi volcano. Covered with some two miles of bas-reliefs that depict the life of Buddha and the sacred stories of Buddhism, Borobudur is a source of immense national pride to Indonesia, even though Islam is now the religion...
Carved of gray-brown volcanic stone, Borobudur consists of a large platform, roughly 400 ft. on each side, surmounted by a wedding cake of five progressively smaller square terraces. These are topped by three circular layers. Crowning the entire structure is a bell-shaped stupa. Dozens of statues of Buddha line the balustrades on each level. Ancient Javanese architects, under Hindu influence, designed Borobudur as a model of the Mahayana Buddhist cosmos; the various levels represent the ascending stages of enlightenment that must be passed before nirvana, or spiritual freedom, is reached...
...1960s, Borobudur's foundation was so badly weakened that the entire structure was in danger of collapse. Some of the balustrades were listing as much as 11° because the artificial hill on which the temple sits had settled. Algae, fungi and lichens were eating away at porous stone, obliterating the exquisite carvings...
More important was ensuring the temple's structural integrity, continually threatened by Java's heavy rains. Under the leaning balustrades went reinforced concrete slabs. To prevent water from undermining the hill upon which Borobudur sits, the engineers installed hidden drain pipes to replace the gargoyle spouts provided by the ancients. Finally, gravel, tar, epoxy and lead were layered under the stones to protect them and the foundation from seepage. Says Indonesian Archaeologist Soekmono, 60, known among his countrymen as the Guardian of Borobudur: "The structure is engineered to last another 1,000 years...
...reconstruction took a decade of effort and cost $25 million. Located 30 miles from the Javanese city of Jogjakarta, Borobudur is eventually expected to attract several million visitors a year. At this week's ceremony, Indonesian officials, as well as representatives of UNESCO and 28 contributing na tions and corporations, will gather at the temple for the local equivalent of a ribbon cutting. Even if the donors do not achieve nirvana as they climb Borobudur's refurbished steps, they can take pride in setting an example for all the world to emulate in the care of a noble...