REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, YOGYAKARTA - Borobudur temple, the worlds largest Buddhist temple located in central Java, is expected to be fully opened next week as the cleaning up work of the temple from Mount Keluds ash has reached 80 percent.

"The cleaning up has reached 80 percent, so volunteers are expected to stop working on Tuesday (Feb 25) probably," Pangga Ardiansya, the coordinator of the Borobudur Conservation Offices Public Services, said on Sunday.

Around 200-300 volunteers consisting of Buddhists, hotel employees, tourist guides, street vendors, students and tourists, have helped clean the temple from the volcanic ash every day. In the next two or three days, the temple would be fully cleaned, he said. The final cleaning up of the temples drainage will be done by the personnel of the conservation office.

"We would like to express our gratitude to all volunteers who are not only from Central Java, but also from Surabaya (East Java) and even South Korea who happened to be participating in the International Cultural Camp," he said.

Despite the closing of the temple due to the ash problem, around 5,000-10,000 tourists visited the area in the weekend, and 2,000-3,000 in working days. They included foreign tourists among others from Italy, Russia, and China.

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