Indonesia: Did you mean...?

A stupa is a reliquary containing the remains (relics) of an individual associated with great spiritual power and insight, most often (since the 3rd century BCE) with the Buddha (l. c. 563 - c. 483 BCE). The form, a hemisphere topped by a...

Pepper has long been the king of spices and for almost 2,000 years dominated world trade. Originating in India, it was known in Greece by the 4th century BCE and was an integral part of the Roman diet by 30 BCE. It remained a force in Europe...

The Batavia was a Dutch East India Company ship that foundered on the coral reefs of the Houtman Albrolhos Islands, 60 kilometres (37 mi) off the coast of Western Australia, just before dawn on 4 June 1629. It was the flagship of a fleet...

As a superpower in its own right and in competition with Rome, Parthia's empire - ruling from 247 BCE to 224 CE - stretched between the Mediterranean in the west to India in the east. Not only did the Parthians win battles against Rome they...

Caesarea Maritima was located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Built from the ground up in 22-10 BCE by Rome's client king, Herod the Great (r. 37-4 BCE), its location in relation to ship traffic and proximity to historical...

The Baroque era, which lasted from roughly 1580 and 1780, was a time of enormous contrasts: Opulence and innovation, on the one hand; death and crises, on the other. Ongoing religious wars and the opening of global trade networks led to mass...

The National Museum Zurich recently opened a comprehensive and multi perspectival exhibition on Switzerland’s colonial past: Colonial – Switzerland’s Global Entanglements. Based on the latest, original research and drawing on biographies...

A model of the Borobudur Buddhist temple in Java, Indonesia. The temple was built in the 8th century CE. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

This head of a Buddha made from andesite comes from the ancient Buddhist temple of Borobudur, which is located on the island of Java in what is now present-day Indonesia. This specimen dates from the 9th century CE. (Museum Rietberg, Zürich...

A Kampilan sword, traditionally used by various ethno-cultural groups in the Philippines and other parts of Oceania. From Sulawesi Utara, Indonesia. Steel blade with wooden hilt, decorated with hair and metal. c. 18th-19th Century CE. 67.9...