INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON REHABILITATION AND MAINTENANCE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

Jl. Ir Sutami 36A Surakarta 57126 Telp/Fax 0271 632524, e-mail: icrmce@uns.ac.id
Friday 29th of March 2024 logout | login

Conference tour

Borobudur Prambanan
Built over a period of some 75 years in the 8th and 9th centuries by the kingdom of Sailendra, Borobudur is the largest Buddhist monument in the world. Constructed out of an estimated 1,600,000 blocks of volcanic stone, dredged from the river and assembled solely by human labor, the nine-terraced temple is a representation of the transition towards nirvana and is famed for its 1,500 intricately carved reliefs, covering a total length of five kilometers end-to-end. The volcanic Mount Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes on Java, can be seen steaming on the horizon directly north of the site.

The first archaeological study of the site was initiated in 1814 by Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore. First restored in 1907, the monument suffered from neglect and war and was once more in effect rebuilt in the 1970s under the guidance of UNESCO, who designated Borobudur as a World Heritage Site. The massive restoration process involved the removal and refurbishing of over one million blocks, rebuilding the foundation and adding drainage systems.

Prambanan is a collection of massive Hindu temples (candi) built by the 10th century Mataram Kingdom, rulers of central Java and defeaters of the Sailendra Dynasty. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, in most any other country constructions on the scale of Prambanan would be quickly designated as a national symbol, but in Indonesia they are somewhat overshadowed by the even more awe-inspiring bulk of Borobudur just next door. The two sites are quite different in style though, with Prambanan being a collection of sharp, jagged pyramids instead of the vast horizontal bulk of Borobudur, and both are well worth a visit.

 

Postgraduate Program in Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Civil Infrastructures
Ministry of Public Works Indonesia
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Indonesia Society of Building Maintenance
Chulalongkorn University

© Civil Engineering Dept. UNS Surakarta 2008