PLACES OF INTEREST

PLACES OF INTEREST
BOROBUDUR TEMPLE

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Borobudur Temple (Forgotten Wonder of the World)

The Borobudur Buddhist sanctuary, more than a thousand years old, is recognized as one of the greatest stupa and World's wonder of its kind in the world. Today, it is the center of tourist attraction in Central Java. The name Borobudur is believed to have been derived from the Sanskrit words, Vihara Buddha Uhr, meaning the Buddhist Monastery on the hill. Borobudur temple is located in Muntilan, Magelang and is about 42 kilometers from Yogyakarta city. It is the greatest Buddhist work of art existing in the world. Borobudur's architects and sculptors designed it to serve the purpose of veneration, worship and meditation, though Borobudur is not a temple as such.

Using untold number of labourers, the early architects designed the structure built around a natural mound of earth resting upon a stone foundation of two layers, square in plan with regular shaped projections making 36 corners in all. The top has a great stupa, standing 40 meters above the ground. The walls of the Borobudur are sculptured in bas-reliefs, extending over a total length of 6 kilometers. It has been hailed as the largest and most complete ensemble of Buddhist reliefs in the world, unsurpassed in artistic merit, each scene an individual masterpiece. Built around the turn of the 9^th century A.D. It is said that if you put your arm through one of the bell-shaped stupa and can touch the stone within, you will have

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