During a recent visit to Yogyakarta, the southern capital city of central Java, I had the opportunity to visit the nearby Buddhist Temple - Borobudur. Built somewhere around the 8th and 9th century, Borobudur was rediscovered in 1814 after being abandoned in the 14th century. It is now Indonesia’s single most visited tourist attraction.
I visited Borobudur with my friends Yopie & Helen Pelamonia from Yogyakarta. After an awesome weekend with them (and staying at the Yogyakarta Hyatt – highly recommended) we traveled the very comfortable 40km (less than 1 hour) to the temple grounds. As per usual we had to run the local sellers gauntlet prior to reaching the actual entrance. There was a entrance fee of Rp90,000 for foreigners, (Rp9,000 for residents). You are free to explore on your own or you may hire a guide to take you around.
Borobudur had been built on a mountain side, in very picturesque settings. The temple’s foundation is a square, approximately 120 meters on each side. It has nine platforms, of which the lower six are square and the upper three are circular, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues . There is one main dome at the center, the top of which is the highest point of the monument at 35 meters above ground level.
To explore Borobudur we spent 2 hours having a “quick” look around, which was plenty, as we were on our way north towards Semarang and still had 3 hours driving ahead of us.
Of course that included the forced meander through the 100’s of stalls set up at the exit. Borobudur is a very worthwhile visit and easily accessed from Yogyakarta.
Of course that included the forced meander through the 100’s of stalls set up at the exit. Borobudur is a very worthwhile visit and easily accessed from Yogyakarta.
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