Located not far from Chengdu, in Sichuan province, China.
Aged over 1300 years old.
The statue sits at the junction of three rivers, Min river, Qingyi river, and Dadu river.
It was a statue honouring Maitreya and worshipping him was popular around 4th and 7th centuries.
The entire of the statue is made of stone, except for the ears that made from wood, then affixed and covered in clay.
The Buddha's hair is arranged with special spiralled circles with 1021 twist that have been embedded to the head.
If the statue stood upright, it would be almost eye to eye with The Statue of Liberty.
71 meters tall, 15 meters high, 28 meters wide, each eyebrow of 5.5 meters, nose of 6 meters long and ears measuring of 7 meters.
Drain passage are also built inside the Buddha's hair,collar, chest and back of ears have prevented it from erosion and weather through the millennium.
The statue once sat in a 13-story wooden pavilion before it is destroyed at the end of Ming dynasty and letting the statue expose.
The statue was believed to be built for calming the water that killed many people every years.
The project of building this statue started at 713 AD by Hai Tong.
It was completed 90 years later by the local governor at 803 AD.
Today, erosion is the biggest threat to The Leshan Giant Buddha.
It was nearly destroyed by erosion and wind before 1963, when Chinese government began to repair and protect it.
The World Heritage Community of UNESCO inscribed Mount Emei Scenic area and The Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area on the wold heritage list.
Since 2001, it was rumoured that the government has spent about $40 million dollars preserving it.
No comments:
Post a Comment