This website dedicated to the Hidden Base of Borobudur is the result of a project, initially developed under the auspices of ASEMUS in 2003. The research works on the subject have been made thanks to the cooperation of the three institutions concerned, namely the National Research and Development Centre of Archaeology, Jakarta; the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden; and the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam.
In February 2008, the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden opened a gallery exhibition on the ‘ Hidden Base of Borobudur” , based on the collection of 18th century photographs from the collection of the museum. This has received much attention from scholars, university students and the general public in the Netherlands and abroad. In September 2008, Dr Nandana Chutiwongs presented an abbreviated version of the paper delivered at The Yogya Seminar, now to the 12th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, at the University of Leiden.
In February 2008, the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden opened a gallery exhibition on the ‘ Hidden Base of Borobudur” , based on the collection of 18th century photographs from the collection of the museum. This has received much attention from scholars, university students and the general public in the Netherlands and abroad. In September 2008, Dr Nandana Chutiwongs presented an abbreviated version of the paper delivered at The Yogya Seminar, now to the 12th International Conference of the European Association of Southeast Asian Archaeologists, at the University of Leiden.
The presentation was well received by scholarly audience and interested participants (about 150 in all), who were also invited by the National Museum of Ethnology Leiden to visit the exhibition on the “ Hidden base of Borobudur” in the Indonesian gallery of the museum. Because the reactions to the presentation were most positive and encouraging, the VCM board of Trustees has decided to publish on the VCM’s website the whole reliefs of the Hidden Base of Borobudur partly analyzed by Dr. Nandana Chutiwongs.
Thanks to the Dutch fund “Geheugen van Nederland”, all the photographs of the Hidden Base made by the photographer Kasian Cephas in 1890’s and preserved by the Volkenkunde Museum have been digitalized in 2009 and are now shown for the first time on this website.
Thanks to the Dutch fund “Geheugen van Nederland”, all the photographs of the Hidden Base made by the photographer Kasian Cephas in 1890’s and preserved by the Volkenkunde Museum have been digitalized in 2009 and are now shown for the first time on this website.