Photograph of the week: Borobudur Temple, Indonesia

Standing in the middle of the grandeur that is Borobudur, it’s hard to believe that this massive temple was ever ‘hidden’. Covering an area of ​​15,129 square metres, reaching 10 levels and 42 metres into the sky, if the walls of this, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, were arranged in a straight line they would reach a length of six kilometres. Add in 504 Buddha statues, 72 massive stupas, and 2,672 intricate relief panels, and the length, breadth and artistic scope of Borobudur really is quite breathtaking in its majesty.

But hidden it was. For over 500 years, buried beneath layers of volcanic ash, deep within a jungle of towering trees and dense vegetation.

Located on the island of Java, Indonesia, the magnificent Borobudur temple is believed to have been built in the 8th or 9th century during the reign of the Shailendra dynasty. It was only in 1814, however, that Borobudur would emerge from the wilds of nature, courtesy of…