Borobudur Conservation Office
Institution Jawa Tengah
Other and rejected name forms
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Lembaga yang menangani pemantauan batu, pengendalian jumlah pendaki, dan penanganan abu vulkanik di Borobudur.
Caring for stone that is walked on
The Borobudur Conservation Office handles the monitoring and care of the temple's stone, which faces a problem most ancient buildings do not: it is walked on. Borobudur's andesite wears under footfall, and the rate of wear tracks visitor numbers; measuring the wear of the steps is one of this office's standing tasks.
The other problems are water and lichen. The hill the structure encases holds water, and the drainage system installed in the 1973–1983 restoration requires continuous maintenance. That restoration, carried out with UNESCO, was among the largest conservation works undertaken in Southeast Asia and involved dismantling and resetting more than a million stone blocks.
The ash of 2010, and the limiting of numbers
The eruptions of Merapi in October and November 2010 covered Borobudur with volcanic ash that is acidic and damages stone surfaces if left. Cleaning ran for months, partly by hand and brush over every relief surface, and the temple was closed throughout.
Since 2022 ascent to the upper terraces has been limited in number per day and visitors are required to wear special footwear softer than ordinary soles. The limits have drawn objections from local tourism businesses, and the figure has changed several times. This encyclopedia records the argument rather than only the figure currently in force, since the figure changes while the problem does not: stone wear increases with the number of steps, and no maintenance restores a surface already worn.
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2 sections, 4 sources, one of them primary.
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