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Borobudur: buried by ash, found in 1814, rebuilt stone by stone

Borobudur has a whole level of carvings that almost nobody has ever seen, because it's hidden behind a stone wall.

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The real story

Borobudur was built in Central Java around the 9th century under the Sailendra dynasty. It's designed to be walked: pilgrims circle each terrace clockwise, past 1,460 story panels, rising from the world of desire to the bare stupas at the top. Its original base has 160 more panels about cause and effect, but builders covered it with an extra stone platform, probably to stop the walls from slipping. They were uncovered briefly in 1885, photographed, and covered again.

After Java's centres of power moved east and the island turned to Islam, the monument was left to ash and jungle. In 1814 a team sent under Raffles cleared it with about 200 men. The great restoration from 1975 to 1982 took the terraces apart stone by stone, numbered and cleaned them, added drainage and concrete foundations, and put them back. Borobudur became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

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The facts we checked

  • Borobudur in Central Java was built in the 9th century; it has 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues
  • For centuries it lay hidden under volcanic ash and jungle
  • In 1814 it was rediscovered and cleared; it was restored from 1975 to 1982 and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991

Sources

We checked every number and date on screen before the video was made.

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