Hai Duong, Vietnam: One of the flamboyant entrepreneurs making it big in booming Vietnam on Monday unveiled a massive precious stone that he plans to transform into the world's largest jade Buddha.
Dao Trong Cuong, the owner of a Vietnamese gem mine, purchased the 35-tonne stone in Myanmar last year for $2 million (Dh7.34 million) and imported it to Vietnam in October. By the time a team of 50 artists and sculptors finishes chipping away at it, the finished Buddha is expected to weigh nearly 20 tonnes.
"We hope to get it into the Guinness Book of World Records," Cuong told a crowd of nearly 2,000 people during a ceremony unveiling the stone, which is three metres tall, two metres wide, and two metres deep.
Cuong counts some of Vietnam's most powerful political figures among his friends, including President Nguyen Minh Triet, who spoke at yesterday's ceremony after about 250 monks in saffron robes chanted and rang bells.
"This unique artistic work will be passed on to many generations," Triet said.
Triet pulled back a curtain covering the massive hunk of jade, which has been temporarily adorned with a painting of a tranquil Buddha sitting in the lotus position.
Cuong said it will take two years to complete the statue.
Record holder
A search of the Guinness Book website showed no entries for the world's largest jade Buddha. But according to Vietnamese media reports, the world's biggest existing jade Buddha weighs four tonnes and stands 2.7 metres tall. It was taken on a tour of Buddhist temples in Vietnam and Australia last year.
Buddhism is the largest religious faith in Vietnam, a nation of 86 million where the government strictly controls religious organisations. The monks at Monday's ceremony belonged to the officially sanctioned Buddhist Church of Vietnam.
- $2m price of stone set to be carved into statue
- 250 monks who officiated at unveiling of stone
- 35 tonnes of stone to be carved into jade Buddha
