The Borobudur Ship Expedition

The building of the ship was based on the idea of Philip Beale, a former British Navy who was charmed by the beauty of the ship engravedon the wall of Borobudur Temple when he visited the temple 20 years ago. He was stunned and had a thought that if the builder of the temple had already crafted the relief of the ship on the wall of Borobudur a century ago, then there must be the Indonesian ancestor having capability to sailing on the ocean and made the wooden ship as well.


Philip Beale came back to his home country in order to search for anykind literatures referring to imagining ship. At last, he found out that since a hundred years ago, the Indonesian ancestor really carried out the cinnamon shipping trade from Indonesia to Madagascar and Africa. In order to realize his dream came true, Philip Beale tried to find sponsorship for the expense. He just wanted to prove his curiousness and tried to trace the cinnamon route as being happened a century ago.
To build the ship there was a formed-team lead by As’ad Abdullah, a traditional fisherman who was born in Sumenep, Madura 1934. The team was also assisted by Philip Beale himself and Nick Burningham, an Australian architect. As’ad Abdullah had a lot of experience in building the ship and nowadays, he has already finished 40 (perahu layar) and 16 ships. The model of the ship was based on the relief engraved on the wall of Borobudur Temple at the panel number 6(bidang C, lorong I, sisi Utara).The building of the ship started on 20 January 2003 and was docking on the water on 26 May 2003, set up the outrigger was carried out on 11 June 2003. The ship was inaugurated on 15 July 2003 by The Minister of Tuorism and Culture, I Gede Ardika and UNESCO in Port Benoa, Bali.

The Expedition of The Cinnamon Route was officially inaugurated by the former President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri on 15 August 2003 in Marina Beach Ancol, Jakarta. This Expedition would trace the Cinnamon Route from Jakarta through Madagascar, Cape Town continued to West Coast, Africa and ended in Ghana on December 2003.

After carrying out the expedition of The Cinnamon Route of Africa 2003 successfully, the ship was sent back to Indonesia in the condition of pieces in order to make easier in transportation. When it arrived in Indonesia, the pieces of the ship would be rebuilt and set up in the Ship Museum in Borobudur which was prepared especially for that.