Children uncover ancient Buddha statues

A shrine set up to display six statues found in a pond in Kampong Chhnang province. Photograph: supplied

Monday, 20 August 2012
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

Six ancient, bronze Buddha statues potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars were discovered by a band of unlikely archaeologists in Kampong Chhnang over the weekend, authorities said yesterday.

A group of young boys playing in a pond near their houses in Kampong Leng district chanced upon strange metallic objects in a pile of excavated earth from a freshly dug waterhole.

“The children were swimming in the new pond nearby their houses,and when they left the pond, one boy saw a metal object in the [pile of earth] nearby. The boys thought that maybe it was a piece of metal that they could sell to a collector,” Kampong Leng district Governor Moan Eangly said yesterday.

The children dug through the dirt and found six Buddha statues thought likely to be from the 11th and 12th centuries – three in sitting poses and three standing. Guessing the significance of the find, they opted not to pawn the loot and instead take them to their parents.

Big Buddha unearthed at Ta Prom

A two-metre section of a Buddha statue unearthed this week sits on blocks at the Ta Prom temple, in Siem Reap province. (Photo Supplied)

Thursday, 27 October 2011
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

The largest Angkorian-era Buddha statue to be discovered since the Khmer Rouge regime ended was unearthed at Ta Prom temple last Friday, an official from the Indian embassy confirmed yesterday.

The Ta Prom temple, at the world-famous Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap, has been under restoration by a team of Indian Government-funded technical experts since 2004.

Indian Embassy First Secretary Saurav Ray said the Buddha statue, found in the Hall of Dancers at Ta Prom, was the “largest Buddha statue discovered so far in Cambodia since the Khmer Rouge era”.

“The statue is incomplete – missing a large buddha head with a naga snake fan and part of the base,” he said, adding that the portion of the statue found was a massive two metres high.

“We have had 151 local people employed on the restoration work, and this is an amazing discovery,” Ray added.

Massive Angkor-era Buddha statue unearthed near Ta Prom temple on 21 October 2011

Dear Readers,

We just received the following "good news" from a team of archeologists in Cambodian led by Mr. An Sopheap who unearthed a massive monolith Buddha statue in Ta Prom temple. The following photos showed the tree roots where the statue was recovered last Friday (21 October 2011). The Angkor-era statue could possibly be slightly larger than the one in Bayon temple.

In his closing message, Mr. An Sopheap wrote: "My team are planning to extend the excavation trench after rainning season and try to find it original location, it can be in the middle of dancing Hall????".

Congratulations to Lok An Sopheap and team for this important discovery!

Thank you,

KI-Media team



http://www.box.net/shared/v7k1cjpgh5uy4o0o69yp

Indian American Philanthropist Sponsors Buddha Statue in Cambodia

August 08, 2011
By LISA TSERING
indiawest.com

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. — Sulata Sarkar, a philanthropist based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has watched proudly as her latest project, the carving of a huge sandstone Buddha in Siem Reap, Cambodia, is nearing completion.

In 2005 on a trip there, Sarkar was moved by the plight of the Cambodian people who were victimized by the brutal regime of dictator Pol Pot.

“We talked to local people through our guide, Mr. BoBo, on what we could do to help local people relieve their past pain and suffering,” Sarkar told India-West in an e-mail.

Big Buddha planned for Parafield Gardens

ENTRANCING: Vuthol Sieng says the archway planned for Parafield Garden's Khmer Buddhist Association will be similar to those in Cambodia.

26 Apr 11
By Katelin Nelligan
News Review Messenger (Australia)

A GIANT Buddha statue is planned for a 10m-high entrance to Parafield Garden’s Khmer Buddhist Association.

The association has lodged plans with Salisbury Council for the elaborate archway at its Salisbury Hwy base.

The plans are out for public consultation until Monday, May 2.

The archway would include figures of elephants topped by a four-faced Buddha statue, similar to those found on many Cambodian temples.

Appearance of a Buddha statue in Prek Ambel

Religious prayer performed to try to pull out the Buddha statued from the bottom of the river in Prek Ambel (Photo: Nhim Sophal, RFI)

Thursday 06 May 2010
By Nhim Sophal
Radio France Internationale
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Several Cambodian citizens came to look at the attempt to pull out a powerful Buddha statue from the river in Kandal province. The attempt to save the statue that people believe was dumped into the water by the Khmer Rouge was not successful even though a religious ceremony accompanied by three Buddhist and Brahman prayers was conducted.

បទយកការណ៍​របស់​ ញឹម​​ សុផល ពី​ខេត្ត​កណ្ទាល

New Cambodian museum to show lost Buddhas

A Buddha statue being transported in Phnom Penh (Photo: AFP/File/Philippe Lopez)

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

A museum showing 274 long-lost Cambodian Buddhist statues, some a millennium old, will open in November near the Angkor Wat temples, the head of the Japanese preservation project announced Tuesday.

TOKYO (AFP) - The Japanese-led research team found the statues in 2001 some six kilometres (four miles) from Angkor Wat, the former capital of the powerful Khmer empire and emblem of Cambodian identity.

The statues will go on display in November in the new two-storey Preah Norodom Sihanouk Museum, named after Cambodia's former king, team leader Yoshiaki Ishizawa said.

"By exhibiting the Buddhist statues, I hope the museum will be able to complement what is lacking in Angkor Wat and that is to offer idols dating from ancient times," said Ishizawa, who is also president of Tokyo's Sophia University.

The statues, crafted between the 11th and 13th centuries and some as tall as 1.2 metres, were buried underground after the apparent destruction of a temple.

Looking back at the team's moment of excavation, Ishizawa said: "Our Cambodian members were getting a bit emotional, with their hands trembling with excitement."

The museum, which has 1,820 square metres (19,580 square feet) of floor space, is located about one kilometre from Angkor Wat. The museum will be donated to and run by Cambodia.

"What's important is that the Cambodian people preserve these national treasures with their own hands and proudly talk about them as their cultural heritage," Ishizawa said.

He said he hoped to expand the museum eventually with a library and the creation of a scholarship for Cambodian researchers.

The museum was made possible through a donation of 130 million yen (one million dollars) by the Aeon Co., a leading Japanese retail chain.