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Equatorial wind and rain have worn smooth the now exposed carvings and ornamentation to such an extent that many reliefs have lost much of their vividness and definition even in the mere 40 odd years since they were first photographed in the 20's and 30's. The most superb example of JavaHindu art, Borobudur, is now being eaten by lichen, cracked by seeping water, all its classical carvings disintegrating and nearly illegible. The monument is slowly but surely sliding off the hill on which it was built, as bungling bureacrats try vainly to save it. The finest sculpture of the Central-Javanese period makes up today part of the royal collection in Bangkok, plus other outstanding collections in Leyden and Amsterdam.