From “Coal Capital” to Cultural Magnet, Historic City Gains New Life
DATONG, Shanxi, (Xinhua) – From a frontier land between agricultural communities and nomadic tribes to a major city in north China bearing the name “Great Harmony;” and from a coal-polluted industrial hub to a pristine tourist magnet with countless historical…
Tōdaiji: The Great Buddha of Nara and Historic Temple Complex
The Buddhist temple Tōdaiji in Nara Prefecture is a priceless trove of history and culture. Founded some 1,300 years ago, the UNESCO World Heritage site is home to the Great Buddha of Nara and other national treasures. We tour the…
Taliban Now Selling Tickets to Ancient Buddha Statues the Group Blew to Bits in 2001
The Bamian Buddhas are now a tourist attraction with tickets going for 58 cents for Afghans and $3.45 for foreigners The cash-strapped Taliban are so broke they have resorted to selling tickets to visit the remnants of two gargantuan Buddha…
Family heirloom Buddha turns out to be a rare 12th-century Kwan Yin
A rare Buddha statue, estimated to be from 12th century China and part of a set thought to have been lost, will be presented for auction in Paris on Tuesday, June 13, and is expected to fetch USD 1,000,000. According…
Mulbekh Monastery and its 30 ft tall Buddha statue, Ladakh’s unexplored gem
This monastery sits atop a cliff at a height of 656 ft above the road, which can be reached by a steep footpath. If records are to go by, the altitude of the monastery is believed to be almost 11,495…
Two precious Ming Dynasty Buddha statues recovered from outside the Chinese mainland
The Anti-Smuggling Bureau of the Beijing Customs has successfully recovered two valuable Buddhist statues from the Ming Dynasty that were illicitly taken out of the Chinese mainland, media learned from the Beijing customs on Tuesday. Officers from the Beijing Customs…
2,300-year-old Buddhist elephant statue from India is one of the oldest known
Archaeologists in eastern India have unearthed a statue of an elephant they think was carved about 2,300 years ago, when Buddhism was the main religion in the region . The statue is about 3 feet (1 meter) high and carved…
8th-century idol with inscription of Lord Buddha unearthed at Rameswar temple in Puri
After a thorough inspection, the members of the INTACH claimed that the inscriptions are of the seventh or eighth century. Rameswar temple located at Bageswarpur village under Pipili tehsil in Puri district belongs to the 8th century. A team of…
Bronze Buddha fetches a record $200K at Briggs Auction
A rare and important gilt bronze Tibetan Buddha blasted through its pre-sale estimate to finish at a staggering $200,000 in an online Fine Estates Auction recently held by Briggs Auction Inc. in Garnet Valley. The piece, pulled from an estate…