Friday, 1st June 2007 (2942 views)

A four-metre bronze statue in Bendigo, Australia, is currently being gilded in gold ahead of a visit from the Dalai Lama, it has been revealed.

The Bendigo Weekly reports that the holy Guru Rinpoche statue, which will be placed at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion site, is due to be blessed by the Buddhist leader when he visits the Victoria gold-rush city next week.

In order to prepare the statue with the accuracy required, two Taiwanese artists have been flown to the Australian city and can commence the gold leafing now that the statue has been filled with precious jewels.

"Lots of people can do gold leafing but what these people do is just unbelievable, just how perfect they are," executive officer Ian Green told the newspaper.

"And these people have given up everything for a month just to be here."

According to the Bendigo Weekly, the project is running behind schedule and the pair have been told to attempt to cover as much of the statue in the gold leaf as possible before the visit.

The Bendigo gold rush began in 1851 and continued until 1954 with almost AUS $9 billion of gold was found there, making it the second highest producing gold field in Australia.

 

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