Borobudur Temple Compounds, one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world, and was built in the 8th-9th Centuries AD, during the reign of Syailendra Dynasty (750-850 AD). The monument is located in the Kedu Valley, in the southern part of Central Java, at the centre of the island of Java, Indonesia.
Temple is a Mahayana buddhist site, has 504 Buddha statues. Temple is a combination of both Hindu and Buddhist architecture. Temple is heavily influenced by ancient Indian 'Gupta' era (4th-6th Century AD) art. It has one of greatest buddhist reliefs carved. The main temple is a stupa built in three tiers around a hill which was a natural centre: a pyramidal base with five concentric square terraces, the trunk of a cone with three circular platforms and, at the top, a monumental stupa. The walls and balustrades are decorated with fine low reliefs, covering a total surface area of 2,520 m2. Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha. The monument was restored with UNESCO's help in the 1970s.
The vertical division of Borobudur Temple into base, body and superstructure perfectly accords with the conception of Universe in Buddhist cosmology. It is believed that the universe is divided into three superimposing spheres, kamadhatu, rupadhatu and arupadhatu, representing respectively sphere of desires where we are bound to our desires, the sphere of forms where we abandon our desires but are still bound to name and form, and the sphere of formlessness where there is no longer either name or form. At Borobudur Temple, the kamadhatu is represented by the base, the rupadhatu by the five square terraces and arupadhatu by the three circular platforms as well as the big stupa. The whole structure shows a unique blending of the very central ideas of ancestor worship, related to the idea of a terraced mountain, combined with the Buddhist concept of attaining Nirvana.
Temple should also be seen as an outstanding dynastic monument of Syailendra Dynasty that ruled Java for around five centuries until 10th Century AD. Borobudur Temple Compounds, consists of three monuments: those three levels symbolic of Buddhist cosmology: Kāmadhātu (the world of desire), Rūpadhātu (the world of forms) and Arūpadhātu (the world of formlessness). First one, namely the Borobudur Temple and two smaller temples situatued to the east on a straight axis to Borobudur. The two temples are Mendut Temple, whose depiction of Buddha is represented by a formidable monolith accompanied by two Bodhisattvas, and Pawon Temple, a smaller temple whose inner space does not reveal which deity might have been the object of worship. Those three monuments represent phases in the attainment of Nirvana.
Temple was used as a Buddhist temple from its construction until sometime between 10th-15th Centuries AD, when it was abandoned. Since its re-discovery in 19th Century AD, and restoration in 20th Century AD, it has been brought back into a Buddhist archaeological site.
