The special gift president Tran Dai Quang presents to Japan’s Emperor and Empress

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The Buddha statue in Phat Tich Pagoda was made in 1057 under the Ly Dynasty. It is one of the perfect sculptural works in Vietnam. With its fine, subtle and lively sculptural lines, the statue is viewed as a message of peace and prosperity that the Ly Dynasty has conveyed to next generations. As it holds great religious, historical and artistic values, the Buddha statue has been recognized as a Vietnamese national treasure.  

The special silver specimen of the Buddha statue, which is made from pure silver on a sophisticated casting technology, weighs 4kg and is 24cm high.

Buddha’s face, neck, ears, hands and the two lions are plated with 24k gold. The statue is placed on a 5.5cm wooden base and protected by a transparent mica box. The main information about the statue is carved in both Vietnamese and Japanese underneath the main statue. It is also put in a lacquered wooden box covered with leather, which contains all historical and artistic information about the statue.

The Buddha statue is also known as a Royal statue as  more than 40 couples of dragons in different shapes and postures are on it. It illustrates the powerful kingship of the Ly Dynasty. It also presents the peak of art under the Ly Dynasty equal to the rest of the world.

Photo: Huu Sang

The first project to cast a pattern of the "Buddha statue in Ly Dynasty" in 2016. During the reconstruction, a number of details that have faded with time have successfully been restored by partisans and experts. Accordingly, the specimen of the Buddha statue was made public in the exhibition "Vietnam heritages - a new angle" in Hanoi in November 2016, and was highly appreciated by domestic and international experts.

The silver specimen of the Buddha statue offered to the Japanese Emperor and Empress is a contracted version of the reconstructed pattern of the Buddha statue.