Community Lens for June 16

Diane McWilliams took this photograph in Java, Indonesia. “It is a sunrise photograph taken from the top of Borobudur Hindu Temple. The mountain is the volcano Mt. Merapi,” she wrote. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, this famous Buddhist temple, dating from the 8th and 9th centuries, is located in central Java. It was built in three tiers: a pyramidal base with five concentric square terraces, the trunk of a cone with three circular platforms and, at the top, a monumental stupa. The walls and balustrades are decorated with fine low reliefs, covering a total surface area of 2,500 m2. Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha. The monument was restored with UNESCO’s help in the 1970s.