Word: borobudur
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...lush rice fields of central Java, like some forbidden city in a sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Bristling with statuary and turrets, the imposing edifice sits in stony silence in the gathering light of dawn. But this is not a Hollywood fantasy. It is Indonesia's Borobudur, the world's largest and probably most mysterious Buddhist monument, which will be rededicated this week as a national shrine and tourist attraction after being rescued from decades of neglect...
Built around 1,200 years ago, Borobudur (usually translated as "temple on the hill") is an architectural jewel that Historian Arnold Toynbee ranked as the equal of the Parthenon. Very little is known of the people who built and used it, or of the reasons it was permanently abandoned in 1006 after an earthquake and the eruption of the nearby Merapi volcano. Covered with some two miles of bas-reliefs that depict the life of Buddha and the sacred stories of Buddhism, Borobudur is a source of immense national pride to Indonesia, even though Islam is now the religion...
Carved of gray-brown volcanic stone, Borobudur consists of a large platform, roughly 400 ft. on each side, surmounted by a wedding cake of five progressively smaller square terraces. These are topped by three circular layers. Crowning the entire structure is a bell-shaped stupa. Dozens of statues of Buddha line the balustrades on each level. Ancient Javanese architects, under Hindu influence, designed Borobudur as a model of the Mahayana Buddhist cosmos; the various levels represent the ascending stages of enlightenment that must be passed before nirvana, or spiritual freedom, is reached...
...Walls. Van Erp, alas, reconstructed the temple on filled land. Even before he was finished, walls began to tilt. Fungi, salt and moss set in, and in the 1950s archaeologists found that water seeping down through the temple was threatening its very foundation. Pleas for funds went out, but Borobudur once again fell victim, this time to political upheavals...
Finally, strapped by a hard-pressed economy, Indonesia has taken the plight of Borobudur to the United Nations, arguing that a "monument to all mankind" is at stake. After a searching survey, UNESCO's Bernard Groslier, conservator of Angkor Wat, and Dutch Hydrologist Caesar Voute have now agreed, and next month will recommend a $3,000,000, seven-year restoration program. Indonesians see prompt UNESCO aid as their only hope. "The balance now is precarious," warns one Indonesian archaeologist. "The walls of Borobudur could fall down today, and they could fall down in 20 years...