Tuesday, April 9, 2024

the Secret and Wonderer of Borobudur Temple

Borobudur Temple is located on Jl. Badrawati, Kw. Borobudur Temple, Borobudur, District. Borobudur, Magelang Regency, Central Java Province, Indonesia.

Borobudur Temple was built during the time of King Samaratungga from the Wangsa dynasty in 824 for 50 years. This means that Borobudur was built 300 years before Angkor Wat in Cambodia and 400 years before the great cathedrals of Europe.

Borobudur Temple has an area of 123x123 m² with 504 Buddha statues, 72 overlay stupas and the first stupa. This temple has an architectural form that reflects the influence of Gupta India. 

The building area of Borobudur Temple is 15,129 m², consisting of 55,000 m³ of stone, consisting of 2 million pieces of stone. The average stone size is 25 x 10 x 15 cm. So the total length of the stone pieces reaches 50 km with a total weight of 1.3 million tons of stone.

The walls of Borobudur temple are surrounded by pictures or reliefs which are a series of stories arranged in 1460 panels. The length of each panel is 2 meters, which if pulled apart is approximately 3 km long. This temple has 10 levels, where levels 1-6 are square, while levels 7-10 are round. There are 504 statues found throughout the temple buildings.

Meanwhile, the height of the temple from the ground to the end of the main stupa is 42 meters, 34.5 meters but is now alive after being struck by lightning. The top 10 levels are a large stupa diameter of 9.90 m, with a height of 7 m. This temple was built without using cement. The structure as one row of Lego strengthens each other and is made simultaneously without any glue.

Borobudur Temple is decorated with carvings on stone reliefs that represent images of the life of Buddha. Archaeologists claim that the Borobudur temple has a series of 1,460 reliefs along the walls and platforms. The relief is the most complete and largest in the world so its artistic value is unmatched. Reading relief stories is always the beginning and end of the east side of the gate at every level. The story starts from the left and ends at the right gate. Borobudur Temple is a holy and pilgrimage place for Buddhists. The ten levels of the temple symbolize the three divisions of the Buddhist cosmic system.

When you start their journey through the temple grounds to get to the top, they will pass through three levels of Buddhist cosmology and are basically a "clone" of the universe according to Buddhist teachings which consists of three main parts, namely: (1) Kamadhatu or the world of desire; (2) Rupadhatu or forming the world; and (3) Arupadhatu or the world without form.

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

After going through a strict selection at the end of 1991, Borobudur was designated as a World Heritage by UNESCO. Borobodur Temple is the largest Buddhist monument in the world.

The position of Borobodur Temple is around 17.4 km south of the city of Magelang, 100 km southwest of Semarang and 40 km northwest of Yogyakarta. As a site that has been registered with the World Organization, Borobudur Temple can definitely be tracked by Google Maps

 

 

 

 


 

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