Borobudur begun around 780 as a Hindu monument, was enlarged and elaborated by stages into one of the greatest achievement of Buddhist art completed in 840.
It is a holy mountain of nine terraces built round the solid of natural hill and has no ‘interior’ apart from a sealed chamber at the very top, originally enclosing a statue do the Buddha.
Borobudur is a massive stupa with nine terraces. Sculpted in the sides of each terrace are bas-reliefs depicting the nine stages in the life of Siddhartha Gautama, from childhood to his final release from the chain of human existence.
Borobudur was erected by a family of kings known as the Sailendras, Lords of the Mountain. The Buddhist ruler who started work on Borobudur was named Indra.
When they moved their capital to a different location in east Java, they abandoned the complex and it lay unknown until the early nineteenth century, when Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, saw it covered with mold and lichen plants in the middle of a dense forest.
History of Borobudur in Java
