World’s biggest marble Buddha statue nearing completion in Myanmar

 

June 19

 

The world’s biggest marble Buddha statue is coming up in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw. The majestic monument is being given final touches and will be thrown open to the public soon.

 

The white marble for the 5,300-tonne statue shows the Buddha seated and contemplating. Its total height is 81 feet. While the Buddha statue is 63 feet tall, its base is 18 feet high.

 

Some 20,000 tonnes of marble have been acquired in all to create the Buddha’s image and the sprawling complex around it. A team of 150 labourers have been working at the site for the past five years.

 

The marble has been procured from Sagyin, a village near Mandalay in Myanmar. Nearly 88 per cent of the country’s 55 million people are Buddhist.

 

A supervisor at the complex told this correspondent: “We hope to complete the work in the next few months and open it for the public.”