Borobudur Temple

Borobudur was built in the 8th and 9th centuries AD under the Syailendra dynasty, which ruled much of Java at the time. UNESCO describes its design in three tiers: a pyramidal base of five square terraces, a body of three circular platforms and a monumental stupa at the summit. Its walls and balustrades carry low reliefs, and the circular platforms hold 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha.

The temple was used for worship until sometime between the 10th and 15th centuries, after which it was abandoned and partly hidden by vegetation and volcanic ash. During the British administration of Java, Thomas Stamford Raffles was told of the monument in 1814 and sent the engineer Hermann Cornelius to investigate, bringing it to wider attention. A first restoration led by the Dutch engineer Theodoor van Erp took place between 1907 and 1911, and a major rescue programme by the Indonesian government with UNESCO followed between 1975 and 1982.

Borobudur, Mendut and Pawon were inscribed together on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1991. The monument remains a living place of pilgrimage: each year during Waisak (Vesak), Buddhist monks and devotees walk in procession from Mendut via Pawon to Borobudur.

Borobudur sits in a farming landscape where villages grow rice, vegetables and fruit, and many families now earn a living from guiding, homestays, crafts and food stalls around the temple. The monument is also an active religious site: the annual Waisak procession and ceremonies draw Buddhist pilgrims from across Indonesia and abroad, and visitors are expected to behave quietly and respectfully on the terraces, as at any place of worship.