Borobudur Temple
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1983, Borobudur Temple in Indonesia reopened.
The worlds’ largest Buddhist monument is in the shadows of an active volcano and was once lost to the jungle.
In 1973, major restoration work started on the temple. One of the workers on the project, Werdi, explains his role in the restoration and describes why the temple has left a deep impression on him.
Presented by Gill Kearsley and produced by Daniel Raza.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
(Photo: Borobudur. Credit: David Cumming/Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to witness history. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm Jill Kursley and this is the podcast that digs into the past. |
| 0:11.9 | We use incredible archive and the amazing memories of a key witness. |
| 0:18.3 | Today we're going back to 1983 |
| 0:20.9 | and the reopening of Barabudal Temple in Indonesia, |
| 0:25.6 | the world's largest Buddhist monument, |
| 0:28.0 | which is in the shadows of an active volcano, |
| 0:31.2 | and was once lost to the jungle. |
| 0:46.6 | It's often said that there, I often told people that during the restoration I never even left the site. |
| 0:50.3 | During breaks, I would sleep on the temple itself. |
| 0:53.6 | I once had a dream on the western staircase. I saw a huge green snake wearing a crown. I didn't |
| 1:00.0 | understand the meaning, but someone later said it was a spiritual sign. It left a deep |
| 1:06.6 | impression on me. That's Guairdi, who worked on the restoration of the temple. |
| 1:14.0 | It was built in the 8th and 9th centuries as a Buddhist temple, |
| 1:18.0 | but as Islam became the predominant religion in the region, |
| 1:21.8 | Borough Buddha became gradually abandoned. |
| 1:24.6 | It was rediscovered in 1814, buried under layers of jungle and volcanic ash. |
| 1:31.5 | Despite international interest, it wasn't until 1973 that a major restoration project started. |
| 1:39.1 | It was a long process. Werdi was involved from the very beginning. He shared his story with BBC Indonesia, |
| 1:47.7 | and if you listen closely, you'll hear the sounds of animals in the background. |
| 1:52.5 | I remember it well. As kids, we used to play around Boro Boudur, especially on the northern |
| 1:59.0 | and western sides. At that time, visitors weren't allowed on the northern and western sides. |
... |
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