Borobudur Temple Compounds

Borobudur is Buddhist cosmology built in stone. Rising in three tiers — a pyramidal base of five square terraces, a cone of three circular platforms, and a crowning monumental stupa — this 8th- to 9th-century Javanese temple carries 2,500 square metres of exquisite low reliefs and 72 openwork stupas, each sheltering a Buddha statue. Restored in the 1970s with UNESCO's help, the temple compounds were inscribed as World Heritage in 1991.