Borobudur Temple is well known as the world biggest Buddhist Temple. This temple is the single attraction that draws most tourists in Indonesia. This wonderful temple stands on the plain of Kedu, round 40 km northwest of Jogja and on the Java Island.
Borobudur name derives from Hhumtcambharabudara that means the mountain of the accumulation of virtue in the ten stages of Bodhisatva. Built by Syailendra Dynasty in the 9th century. Nestled on a 150 foot hill, this sacred buildings is a masterpiece religious architecture. This temple was built 300 years before many of the great Christian cathedrals of western Europe and Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, some of whose temples are deemed to have been influenced by it.
Borobudur covers 15.000 square meters of land and contains some 2 million pieces of stone. Its seven lower terraces are square and its three upper terraces are circular. The later mentioned terraces have 72 stupas, and at the top of the temple there is a giant stupa. Temple contains 504 Buddha statues. That’s why also people think it was named Borobudur, because Borobudur means shrine of many Buddhas.
When it was discovered in 1814, its walls contained big cracks and broken-off heads of Buddha statues all over.
Borobudur remained the spiritual center of Javanese Buddhism for about 150 years, until 1000 years ago when suddenly abandoned. The reasons seem to be complex. Its demise could be due to natural disaster, or because of Mt Merapi eruption. The rain down pour sank the temple, the moisture helped moss and fungus to grow on the statues and carvings.
Restoration of the temple were done from its discovery to the Indonesia Govt with the favour of UNESCO, inisiated in 1971 and completed by February 1983. Workers had to number each block and then put in computer database to they can the temple back together. Borobudur is now one of the UNESCO World Heritage.