File:Vientiane, Buddha Park (6172411347).jpg

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Buddha Park, also known as Xieng Khuan , is a sculpture park located 25 km southeast from Vientiane, Laos in a meadow by the Mekong River.

The park was started in 1958 by Luang Pu (Venerable Grandfather) Bunleua Sulilat. Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat was a priest-shaman who integrated Hinduism and Buddhism. His unique perspective was influenced by a Hindu rishi under whom he studied in Vietnam. After the revolution in 1975, he fled from Laos to Thailand where he built another sculpture park, Sala Keoku in Nong Khai. He fled because his anti-Communist beliefs conflicted with the views of the Pathet Lao. After Luang Pu Bunleua Sulitat left, the state took control of his garden and made it into a public park.

The statues are made of reinforced concrete and are ornate, and sometimes bizarre, in design. The statues appear to be centuries old, though they are not. There are sculptures of humans, gods, animals, and demons. There are numerous sculptures of Buddha, characters of Buddhist beliefs like Avalokiteshvara, and characters of Hindu lore, including Shiva, Vishnu, and Arjuna. These sculptures were presumably cast by unskilled workers under the supervision of Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat. One notable sculpture resembles a giant pumpkin. It has three stories representing three levels - Hell, Earth and Heaven. Visitors can enter through an opening which is a mouth of a 3-metre-tall demon head and climb staircases from hell to heaven. Each story contains sculptures depicting the level. At the top, there is a vantage point where the entire park is visible. Another sculpture, an enormous 120-metre-long reclining Buddha, is also a park attraction.

Vientiane is the capital and largest city of Laos, situated in the Mekong river. Vientiane became the capital in 1563 due to fears of a Burmese invasion. During French rule, Vientiane was the administrative capital and due to economic growth in recent times, it has become the economic centre of Laos. The estimated population of the city is 754,000 (2009).

(From Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_Park, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vientiane)
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Source Vientiane, Buddha Park
Author Arian Zwegers from Brussels, Belgium
Camera location17° 58′ 00″ N, 102° 36′ 00″ E Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

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current21:25, 28 July 2013Thumbnail for version as of 21:25, 28 July 20131,758 × 1,176 (1.77 MB)File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske) (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr by User:russavia

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