Today we visited the world's largest Buddhist temple, Borobudur, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Magelang, an hour's drive from Yogjakarta. The impressive structure is a 9th century Mahayana Buddhist temple comprised of 9 stacked rectangular platforms, topped by a central dome.
The temple is adorned with 2,672 relief panels - which only a few of the 160 panels of the hidden foot level are visible to the public after a recent restoration by UNESCO. The panels at the foot level tell tales of karma, with tales regarding gossip to performing acts of charity. Reliefs on other tiers of the temple tell tales of daily life as well as tales of mythical spirits and Buddha. The sacred temple also has 504 Buddha statues.
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| Borobudur (NorthWest View) |
Science Connection: Borobudur is located near Mount Merapi, an active stratovolcano that is the most active volcano in Indonesia. In October and November of 2010, Borobudur was greatly impacted by the volcanic ash from Mount Merapi eruptions. In addition to deterioration by volcanic ash, earthquakes are also quite common in central Java, with an earthquake of 6.2 magnitude striking the area on May 27, 2006. Students can explore methods that scientists and engineers undertake to preserve the stones and strengthen the structure from future earthquakes.
Math Connection: For the scaling of the temple the following mathematical facts can be utilized: The foundation is a square, approximately 118 meters on each side and has nine platforms, 504 Buddha statues. The basic unit of measurement used in Borobudur’s construction was the tala, which is thought to be the length of a human face from hairline to chin. A survey conducted in the 1970’s revealed multiple ratios of 4:6:9, indicating that the architect had used fractal and self-similar geometry in the design.
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