The rocky path to enlightenment: the building of Hong Kong’s Big Buddha
Plans for the ‘Big Buddha’ on Lantau Island were first announced in 1969, but the statue was not completed until 1990 – and opened only 3 years later
“The Po Lin Monastery on Lantao Island plans to build a statue of Buddha about 70 ft high in front of the monastery to add another tourist attraction to the Colony,” reported the South China Morning Post on November 18, 1969. “A spokesman for the monastery, the Rev Sou Wai, said yesterday that architects were drawing plans for the statue which would be built in cement and cost $1 million.
“The Rev Sou Wai said a Buddhist follower had already agreed to donate $100,000 for the construction of the statue. The statue itself, the Rev Sou Wai said, would be about 60 to 70 ft high. It is to sit on a pedestal about 30ft high which will occupy an area of 120ft by 120ft. When completed the statue could be seen from Macao because of its altitude. (The monastery is about 1,500ft above sea level).”
Decades later, on December 29, 1993, the Post reported that “the construction of the giant Buddha on Lantau caused enough trouble to guarantee anyone involved a ticket to Nirvana”.
“The statue rises 33.95 metres (111ft) above the ground, a striking landmark in the northeast of Lantau and one of the first things that passengers flying in to Chek Lap Kok airport will see. But almost from the start the statue was dogged by problems, and only the skill of its Catholic architect and the ingenuity of its metallurgists from atheist China saved Po Lin Monastery from a $60 million disaster.
“Work began on the [statue’s supporting platform and plinth] in 1984 and was soon completed. At this point the monastery settled on a final design for the statue, one which turned out to be completely different from the model that the original architect had been told to work from.
