|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Thursday, 4 July 2002 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
World's
tallest Buddha in southwest China to get a facelift
BEIJING, July 3 (AFP) - The world's tallest statue of a Buddha is to get a two-month-long facelift in an attempt to fix some of the wear and tear incurred in almost 1,300 years of existence, Chinese state media said Wednesday. The 71-metre (237-foot) Leshan Buddha, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, is looking somewhat battered due to the effects of wind and rain as well as damage caused by visitors, the Xinhua news agency said. Some of the curls carved around the statue's head have broken off and the face has lost its colour, it added. A team of engineers are swarming over the Buddha in a repair job expected to last until the end of August, the agency quoted a local official as saying. The work is part of a longer maintenance project expected to cost around 250 million yuan (about 30 million dollars) overall. The Buddha, carved into a cliff face overlooking the point where the Dadu and Min river meet, is 16 metres taller than the bigger of two giant carved Buddhas in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, both of which were destroyed by the then-ruling Taliban in March 2001. It was built over a 90-year period beginning in 713, during the Tang Dynasty. The facelift has come just in time if the Leshan Buddha is to continue attracting people's attention -- it was announced last month that the world's largest billboard is likely to be erected right next to it. Local officials are to invite bids to construct a 40,000-square-meter (444,000-square-feet) advertising space by the Buddha, despite protests from local experts and academics, Xinhua reported in June. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
