Surrounded by Menoreh Hills, lies a majestic religious building that also serves as a canvas to retell the glory of ancient Javanese civilization during the 8th to 9th century. Built thoughtfully carrying buddhist symbolism, Borobudur temple also represents many layers of buddhist theory.
Architecture and History
Borobudur temple is believed to be architectured by a mysterious person named Gunadharma in which there is a little record of its existence. The architect's life itself remains as a folklore and also a legend. Gunadharma has to be one of the geniuses in architecture as he designed a temple that consists of 2,672 reliefs, 504 statues, 118m square base, and 55,000m3 andesite stones. And according to the pamphlet of Borobudur information, through a birds eye view, this temple looks like a mandala which is a great deal to Hindu and Buddhist art. Even its steps from the hidden foot to the main stupa has a rich buddhist cosmology. This temple is a miniature of the universe itself as in the pamphlet it is mentioned that according to the buddhist cosmology, the universe is divided into three major zones, Arupadhatu, rupadhatu and kamadhatu. Each of these zones described human lives from the foundation to the nirvana. The materials of the building itself form andesite stones that are commonly found in the area.
Before it was open to the public, this temple was hidden waiting to be found after being covered in ashes and it was speculated that the volcanic eruption made the people move away from central java to east java. It was Sir Stamford Raffles who re-discovered this temple in the 18th century and led the preservation efforts of this temple. After that, more restorations were done and this temple was finally listed as a world heritage in 1991.
During the restoration works, many of the reliefs were found and the archaeologist attempted to transcribe it. Among its notable reliefs is the picture of a ship which serves as the witness of and evidence of the Cinnamon route, a part of the spice route that links Indonesia to africa. Then, a story that depicts the life of Gautama Buddha that is located in the middle zone or Rupadhatu. Surrounding the temples, it’s filled with mudra, the arm position of Buddha statues. Each of the positions has different meanings ranging from benevolence to reasoning and virtue.
After that information about the temple, it’s time for me to tell you about my experience visiting there and my journey to the temple and its surroundings.
My journey
Our journey started quite late in the afternoon. We went around 1PM to the temple from my family’s home. The location is only a 10 minutes ride from where this temple lies. It’s exact location is called Jl. Badrawati, Kw. Candi Borobudur, Borobudur, Kec. Borobudur, Magelang, Jawa Tengah. We went there by motorbike and apparently, the motorbike has to be parked outside at the local’s houses or shops with the cost of 5000 IDR. But if you go with a car, it can go directly to the parking lot that’s located inside the temple complex. So, if you go by motorbike, you still have to walk about 10 minutes or more before reaching the ticketing locket.
During the pandemic, the temple enforces the rule of vaccination and also QR code of Indonesian covid-19 tracing app. So before we entered the rule, we had to scan the QR code and also check our temperature. After that, we had to wash our hands and only then were we allowed to go inside.
The ticket to enter this temple cost 50.000IDR and even triple the price for foreigners. So, make sure that you carry enough cash before entering this temple. As far as I remember, for foreigners it is around 35 to 40$. But during this pandemic, some parts of the temple are closed for visitors. My cousin, Ray and I were only allowed to sightseeing in the hall just before the entrance to climb the temple.
After paying for the ticket, we passed through the gate where we had to leave our water bottle. This is another trick that I learned, so if you don’t want that to happen, just bring an empty water bottle as inside there is a safe drinking water fountain.
Borobudur is a huge complex with its area consisting of several museums, an elephant cage, a hill, some restaurants, and a hotel that is overlooking the borobudur temple. With around 100$ of staying in the hotel, you can see the sunrise from the temple and more. I suppose it’s really worth it. I haven’t really tried it but in the future if I have the chance, I would love to stay inside this Borobudur archaeological park complex.
After walking inside for about 5 minutes, Ray and I spotted a mini golf car that takes us circling around the Borobudur park and also closer to the entrance of Borobudur temple. There are some options including andong, a horse carriage which is the traditional means of transportation of people in this part of java. But we decided to use the golf car because it was more private and only for the two of us.
We chatted a bit with the golf car driver about the temple and its connection to the temples in East java. It was an interesting chatter and the driver told us about the restoration year and it felt like we had a private tour guide.
He took us to the entrance that made us have a little hike near the mahogany forest. He told us that the main entrance is under renovation and visitors are directed to the other gates on the sides of the temple.
From where we dropped, we could see the temple stood tall. It was such an amazing sight despite the fact that I visited this temple ever since I was only 5 years old. It was the same situation with Ray, our family loved to visit this temple every year and never got tired of it as there was always something new to learn. And it was the same for me. After exploring the temples in East Java, this temple gives me more information about the ancient javanese civilization and the living during that era. All I can deduce is that this civilization built a strong foundation to live life under tolerance towards different religions and people. Sure, in the past there were wars among its little kingdoms but the tolerance foundation was also taught and embedded into its culture. Unfortunately, these days that seems to be a lost art and visiting these places would remind us a bit about it.
As we reached the place, I took the chance to step a little closer to the reliefs and circled the place. I climbed this temple a few times by now and circled it, with and without a tour guide. Unfortunately that day, it was closed. There are many headless buddha and also missing stupas. Not to mention, some of its stones are not its original stones anymore.
My phone camera could only capture a few parts of its reliefs and the surrounding it. Here are some pictures of it.
After explaining a little bit about this temple to Ray, we went down and tried to explore the park area. We walked to the deer cage and the elephant cage. I made sure to visit the archeological museum that is located next to the exit entrance of the temple.
In this museum you could see the mudra buddha statue and the stones that are used to build the borobudur temple. But if you are not a history buff, you could always skip this spot and go straight to the exit gate. In this exit gate, the walk to the parking lot is filled with hustlers and also souvenirs shops. You can always politely say no and they will walk away.
This visit was quite interesting yet unfortunate as I could not get to the temple. Though to some degree, it was nice because there are no people taking pictures in front of the stupas and we are all enjoying it 1 metres away from it. The temple can take time to rest from the people who only come there to take selfies and go back. And this is my second timeless architecture edition. And in this edition, I will be covering three temples that have connection to one another. For this, stay tuned for the third one as I conclude this journey and tell you more about the journey to nirvana.
More pictures here :
The information I wrote above is also obtained from the pamphlet that I got from the information center.
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 | Mac is a jack of all trades. A typical introvert in love with literature, books, technology and philosophy. She is also so into nootropics, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, and languages. Other than that, she is passionate about cooking and traveling. In her free time, she enjoys learning various things. If you like her content, don't hesitate to upvote, leave a comment or a feedback. A re-blog is also appreciated. |