Talk: Borobudur: Paths to Enlightenment

When: November 7, 2018, 3pm  – 5pm

Where: Hamilton Library 306

Light refreshments will be served.

The Library Treasures Initiative will host the talk “Borobudur: Paths to Enlightenment”, given by Paul Lavy, Associate Professor of Southeast & South Asian Art History, and Southeast Asian Librarian, Rohayati Paseng.

Borobudur, a 9th-century Buddhist temple in central Java, Indonesia, continues to fascinate visitors from around the world since its “rediscovery” by the British colonists in the early 19th century.

Hamilton Library owns a digital package that consists of a comprehensive visual record of this UNESCO World Heritage site. The videos, which are scholarly and well-researched yet also accessible to a lay audience, cover numerous aspects of Borobudur and range from its origins and ritual use to its modern restoration to detailed explanations of Buddhist texts and doctrines. The computer program includes a virtual “walk-through” of the entire monument. Since the early 9th century, only some stone panels have only been visible during relative brief periods of restoration. This resource is, therefore, a major document of one of the world’s greatest monuments and is invaluable for both teaching and research.

For location address, see the talk on our calendar.