Giant Buddha of Leshan
By admin on 2015-01-23

Leshan Giant Buddha is a Buddhist stone statue carved in China's Tang Dynasty. It was carved out of a cliff located at Mount Xiluan, Lingyun Mountain at the south bank of the Min River of Leshan City, Sichuan Province, facing the west and against Leshan City across the river. Leshan Giant Buddha, also named Lingyun Giant Buddha, is a sitting statue of Maitreya. Its overall height is 71 meters, of which the head is 14.7 meters high and 10 meters wide, with 1021 bobs on it. The ears are 7 meters long, eyes 3.3 meters, and the neck is 3 meters high, while the shoulders are 24 meters wide. The middle fingers are 8.3 meters long, and the insteps are 8.5 meters wide and 11 meters long. Even outgrows by 18 meters than the Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan, which was once claimed to be the biggest in the world, Leshan Giant Buddha is the hugest stone-carved sitting Buddha statue in the world up to now.

The Giant Buddha was first craved in the first year during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang dynasty (713 A.D) and completed in the 19th year during the reign of Emperor Dezong (803 A.D) with a time span of 90 years and a cost of huge amount of gold. After the exquisite engraving of craftsmen of three generations, the sitting statue of Maitreya was painted with colored drawing all over the body when it was completed. The statue belongs to the Tang artistic style, and is of high artistic value and rich in cultural connotation.

On December 6th, 1996, Leshan Giant Buddha was approved by the UNESCO as the Heritage of World Culture and Nature and was officially inscribed on the World Heritage List. The comment of the Committee of World Heritage was as follows: "During the first century A. D., Mount Emei in Sichuan province became one of Buddhism's holiest sites. Over the centuries, the cultural treasures grew in number. The most remarkable is the Giant Buddha of Leshan, carved out of a hillside in the 8th century. At 71 m high, it is the largest Buddha in the world."