1000 Ngultrums - Jigme Singye Wonders of the World - Borobudur Temple in Java

Borobudur was largely forgotten by the outside world until Stamford Raffles — then Lieutenant-Governor of Java under British administration — ordered its excavation in 1814. The site had been buried under volcanic ash and jungle growth for centuries, its origins debated even after rediscovery. UNESCO-led restoration work ran from 1975 to 1982, making the temple a renewed symbol of Indonesian heritage just two decades before this coin was struck.

Bhutan's "Wonders of the World" gold series from this period drew heavily on sites with Buddhist significance, and Borobudur — the largest Buddhist monument on earth — was a natural inclusion.