Golden Buddha
Phra Puttha maha suwan patimakon or simply Golden Buddha is the world's largest statue of Buddha, made of gold and weighing almost 5.5 tons.
The statue is a sitting Buddha with a height of 3 meters, the date and place of manufacture of the statue are unknown. But according to the shape of the face, scientists suggest that the statue was made in the 13th-15th century during the reign of the Sukhothai kingdom, and the statue itself may have been brought from India and assembled in a temple. Around 1403, the statue was moved to the Ayutthaya Temple. During the war with Burma, enemy troops broke into the city and began looting everything. Anticipating this, the rulers ordered the statue to be plastered over so as not to attract attention. As a result, the statue was covered with a thick layer of plaster and inlaid with pieces of colored glass. Perhaps everyone who knew this secret died during the war, and the golden Buddha statue stood in an abandoned temple for several decades.
In 1801, Thai King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, after the creation of Bangkok, ordered temples to be built there and various old Buddha images from destroyed temples to be brought back. Thus, the Golden Buddha got to Wat Chotanaram temple, but the temple fell into disrepair, and in 1935 the statue was moved to Wat Traimit Temple, where the statue stood under a simple iron canopy. There was not enough space in the temple to place the statue.
It was only in 1954 that a new building was built, and in 1955 they decided to move the statue to it. It is not known for certain how it was discovered that the statue was made of gold. According to the main version, during the lifting of the statue, a cable broke from the base, and the Golden Buddha crashed to the ground. During the fall, part of the plaster also broke off, exposing the golden base of the statue. After removing the plaster, it turned out that the statue consists of 9 golden parts connected to each other. The statue could be disassembled using a key, which was also at the base of the statue.
When analyzing the statue, it turned out that the body of the Golden Buddha is 40% gold, the head is 80%, and the hair and ears of the 45 kg Buddha are 99% gold. It is estimated that at a gold price of $ 1,400 per troy ounce, the gold in the statue is worth $250 million.
