Travel Notecards: The old and the new Buddha

Monday 5 March 2012

The old and the new Buddha

A monk sculpts a cement Statue of Buddha

I'm in Luang Prabang and while the sun is at its strongest and hottest I thought I would stay in the cool and blog a post.

It's only a few months since my last visit to Laos and I am once again enjoying the warmth and hospitality of the Lao people and making new discoveries.

In a city known for its enormous number of Buddhist temples you are bound to come across the odd statue or two of Buddha! There are the very old and the very new and I came across both in the one morning.

The toes are getting a lot of attention

Here (above) in an unfinished building in the grounds of the Temple of Vat Nong Sikhounmuang I had the good timing and good fortune to be passing by just as a monk was busy and concentrated on sculpting a cement statue of Buddha. Unfortunately the language barrier between us meant that I did not have the opportunity to gather much more information however I was content to watch him at work and snap some photos at the same time.

Restoring a 200 year old statue of Buddha at The Buddha Restoration Studio

Further into my day after having visited a sublime photographic exhibition called 'The floating Buddha' by German photographer Hans Georg Berger I happily discovered the Buddha Restoration Studio located in the same building and in the grounds of the Palace Museum.

The restoration work being done here currently is part of a 3 week project between The Lao Department of Fine Arts, Information of Culture and Tourism and the private Japanese Minobusan University in Minobu, Yamanashi prefecture.

The studio itself is part of the Training Technicians of Restoration in Buddhist Art and part of the world heritage of Luang Prabang here

Looking at some of the before photos (where there were missing arms and huge gaping holes) it is clear that the work they are doing is extremely delicate and the results amazingly successful.