Borobudur attracted attention in 1885, when Yzerman, the Chairman of the Archaeological Society in Yogyakarta, made a discovery about the hidden foot.[42] Photographs that reveal reliefs on the hidden foot were made in 1890–1891.[53] The discovery led the Dutch East Indies government to take steps to safeguard the monument. In 1900, the government set up a commission consisting of three officials to assess the monument: Brandes, an art historian, Theodoor van Erp, a Dutch army engineer officer, and Van de Kamer, a construction engineer from the Department of Public Works. In 1902, the commission submitted a threefold plan of proposal to the government. First, the immediate dangers should be avoided by resetting the corners, removing stones that endangered the adjacent parts, strengthening the first balustrades and restoring several niches, archways, stupas and the main dome. Second, fencing off the courtyards, providing proper maintenance and improving drainage by restoring floors and spouts. Third, all loose stones should be removed, the monument cleared up to the first balustrades, disfigured stones removed and the main dome restored. The total cost was estimated at that time around 48,800 Dutch guilders.
The restoration then was carried out between 1907 and 1911, using the principles of anastylosis and led by Theodor van Erp.[54] The first seven months of his restoration was occupied with excavating the grounds around the monument to find missing Buddha heads and panel stones. Van Erp dismantled and rebuilt the upper three circular platforms and stupas. Along the way, Van Erp discovered more things he could do to improve the monument; he submitted another proposal that was approved with the additional cost of 34,600 guilders. At first glance Borobudur had been restored to its old glory. Due to the limited budget, the restoration had been primarily focused on cleaning the sculptures, and Van Erp did not solve the drainage problem. Within fifteen years, the gallery walls were sagging and the reliefs showed signs of new cracks and deterioration.[54] Van Erp used concrete from which alkali salts and calcium hydroxide leached and were transported into the rest of the construction. This caused some problems, so that a further thorough renovation was urgently needed. Small restorations have been performed since then, but not sufficient for complete protection. In the late 1960s, the Indonesian government had requested from the international community a major renovation to protect the monument. In 1973, a master plan to restore Borobudur was created.[28] The Indonesian government and UNESCO then undertook the complete overhaul of the monument in a big restoration project between 1975–1982.[54] The foundation was stabilized and all 1,460 panels were cleaned. The restoration involved the dismantling of the five square platforms and improved the drainage by embedding water channels into the monument. Both impermeable and filter layers were added. This colossal project involved around 600 people to restore the monument and cost a total of US$ 6,901,243.[55] After the renovation was finished, UNESCO listed Borobudur as a World Heritage Site in 1991
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Known as the Colosseum since the Middle Ages, either because of the huge statue of Nero that once stood outside it or from its sheer size and magnitude, the Amphitheatre Flavium or Flavian Amphitheatre has been one of Rome’s major landmarks for nearly 2000 years. Its fortunes have fluctuated. It was the centrepiece of Vespasian’s regeneration programme and the home of vagrants, a palatial fortress and the city’s stone quarry.
The Colosseum was begun in 70AD by the Emperor Vespasian as part of his regeneration of Rome. Roma Resurgens was Vespasian’s motto. As the city rose from the ashes of civil war and unrest, so the Colosseum rose from the basin of the lake of Nero’s Golden House to become the city’s first permanent, all purpose stone amphitheatre.
The building remained a family project. Its grand opening was in 80AD under Vespasian’s son the Emperor Titus. Vespasian’s youngest son, the Emperor Domitian, added the structural finishing touches by completing the arena area.
The amphitheatre was repaired and modified several times in its history. The building was particularly vulnerable to fires because of its wooden arena and upper ring of seating. Initial repairs were detailed. Archaeologists have discovered that the original corridor décor of red, yellow, green and black painted plaster was changed following the fire of 217 AD to a plainer red and white style.
As time went on, repairs were less meticulous. A lightening strike in the third century meant that the building again went up in flames. Repairs took two decades and did not have the attention to detail of earlier eras. The last recorded repair of the amphitheatre was in 443 AD when an earthquake destroyed the upper tier of seating. Repairs on this occasion were makeshift and incomplete.
Gladiatorial contests were outlawed in 438AD and the games stopped completely in 523AD after one final animal hunt took place in the arena. The Colosseum became redundant until it became a refuge for the city’s vagrants. Makeshift dwellings were set up in the basement corridors. Gradually, a small community of artisans grew up around the former amphitheatre. A road was built down the main axis of the arena which became a storage yard whilst outside the perimeter walls, a number of dwellings were erected.
By the 12th century, the Colosseum had once more gone up in the world when it become part of the Frangipane family’s fortress. The family occupied two levels of arches at the eastern end of the structure until the building left their ownership, eventually falling into the hands of the church. Its stone began to be plundered with records showing travertine stone from the building was put up for sale in 1362.
By the renaissance, humanists such as Pope Eugene IV were calling for the historic remains to be preserved. This did not prevent the building from being used as a ‘quarry’ supplying stone for great renaissance buildings such as the Vatican’s St Peter’s church.
In the sixteenth century, the church sanctified the former amphitheatre, due to the misconception that it was a place of martyrdom for early Christians under Nero. A small church, the Chapel of Santa Maria Della Pieta was built in the north eastern corner of the arena. This in no way stopped the slow erosion of the building’s structure and soon only the north side of the building left relatively intact.
Real conservation did not begin until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A law was passed in 1743 forbidding any further removal of stone. The east and west ends of the building were reinforced to stop them collapsing. It was not until the nineteenth century that the first systematic excavations of the building began under Carlos Fea.
The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn Period, which began around the 7th century BC. During the Warring States Period from the 5th century BC to 221 BC, the states of Qi, Yan and Zhao all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly by stamping earth and gravel between board frames. Qin Shi Huang conquered all opposing states and unified China in 221 BC, establishing the Qin Dynasty. Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the former state borders. To protect the empire against intrusions by the Xiongnu people from the north, he ordered the building of a new wall to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire's new northern frontier. Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin Dynasty walls. Most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. Later, the Han, Sui, Northern and Jin dynasties all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders.
The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty following the Ming army's defeat by the Oirats in the Battle of Tumu in 1449. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper-hand over the Manchurian and Mongolian tribes after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the nomadic tribes out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Huang He.
Photograph of the Great Wall in 1907
Unlike the earlier Qin fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong.[7]
Towards the end of the Shun Dynasty, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. Under the military command of Yuan Chonghuan, the Ming army held off the Manchus at the heavily fortified Shanhaiguan pass, preventing the Manchus from entering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, when the gates at Shanhaiguan were opened by Wu Sangui, a Ming border general who disliked the activities of rulers of the Shun Dynasty. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and defeated the newly founded Shun Dynasty and remaining Ming resistance, to establish the Qing Dynasty.
Under Qing rule, China's borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia was annexed into the empire, so construction and repairs on the Great Wall were discontinued.
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