Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Biggest Buddha in Korea.

Last month we read about the huge Catholic church and complex they're building in Mokpo. That isn't the only big worship site in the area: Jeollanam-do also has the biggest Buddha in Korea.

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You'll find this 36-meter, 670-kilogram statue at Nammireuksa (남미륵사) in Gangjin county's Gundong-myeon. You'll also see it on the highway if you're driving from Gangjin to points eastward. It went up in 2006---construction photos here---and cost 10 billion won.

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I first wrote about the temple and the statue in December 2007, and visited the following February in order to take some photos for a March 2008 Gwangju News article. The temple is comprised of two sections: one has a variety of new shrines, stupa, and statues; the other has the large statue of Amitabha (아미타) and accessories.

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Everything was brand new, almost creepily so, except for the lot that connects the two halves.

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The temple's in the middle of nowhere

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but buses do run somewhat regularly to the vicinity. A bus from the terminal in Gangjin-eup, the county seat, bound for villages to the east will drop you off some 700 meters from the entrance.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Something tells me 670kg is a bit too light (no problem for about 15 guys to lift). I think 6,700kg is a bit better figure (or even 67,000 if it's solid). Not sure if it was a typo or incorrect source but I doubt this thing is made out of tinfoil.

Brian said...

Good catch. I misread a newspaper article back in 2007, which said that a single of the lotus leaves was 670 kg, not the whole statue.

Gregory Curley said...

Excellent shots, Brian. Thanks for the tip. I'll be checking this place out.

Muckefuck said...

Pretty cool. I wonder if there is room across the street for a giant neon cross.

The Surfing Professor said...

If you need good directions to the temple check out my blog at www.goneseoulsearching.com

http://www.goneseoulsearching.com/2010/10/tallest-buddha-in-korea-part-1-getting.html

has the specific link for directions

I went recently and getting there can be tricky for those that aren't very good at Korean.