Mr. Nguyen Van Chung, a contractor providing stone for the project, said this was the first time in Vietnam that sandstone was used to build a Buddha statue. Sandstone is formed from grains of sand that contain silica in part of the limestone. When crafting sandstone, the worker must be highly technical and skilled with a skilled eye to be able to use a hammer and a chisel to cut off the parts that need to be cut off, retaining the most beautiful lines and bringing soul to each piece. stone.
Just ensuring the source of sandstone for the giant Maitreya Bodhisattva statue, 36m high, 45m maximum width, statue surface area up to 4,651m2 with a total weight of up to 5,112 tons is a challenge.
The construction unit said it spent many months searching for stones across the country in all large and small quarries to find guaranteed stones. Ensuring quality for a project of a lifetime. Each stone is carefully selected to check the stone’s grain color and then sculpted according to the design with an average length of 100-120cm, an average height of 70cm and a thickness of 50cm.
In addition, to shape the statue, each stone is stacked on top of each other to create soft curves like highland terraced fields, so when adding The work requires that each flat line and contour must be consistent and precise.
We hand-carve each stone meticulously as if we were creating a work of sculptural art.” Mr. Chung shared.
Finding stone for stone carving is a feat, but the process of grafting stone is truly a challenge. Architect Pham Thanh Quang said: “We both learn and apply leading modern BIM design and construction modeling technology to implement construction plans. All structural items and stone slabs modeled in 3D, then carefully marked in order and then precisely crafted before being assembled into a complete block.”
From ancient Egypt to the rooftops of the South
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The way to create the statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva on the top of Ba Den Mountain easily reminds viewers of the way ancient Egyptians built pyramids with stacked limestone and granite blocks. overlapping each other in almost perfect geometrical symmetry, to this day how millions of tons of stone were transported and built to this wonder remains a mystery. With the statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva, assembling 6,688 sandstone stones accurately to the centimeter in a pyramid style is not the most difficult task.
Being the person directly coordinating the design and execution Mr. Bui Nhat Thi – Head of project design coordination department, said that each stone has different installation methods, including stacking in a pyramid style. 3 towers and 5 robots were used to transport and install each stone with each stone weighing from 1 2-1 5 tons. The stones are numbered in order by layer so that the construction process can be in the right position.
According to Mr. The most complicated stones are located in positions such as the nose, lips and two hands of the statue, so engineers have to use the complicated method of hanging stones upside down.
“There are many methods of hanging stones upside down. But in the Maitreya Bodhisattva statue, I have never seen it before because not only does each stone weigh up to a ton, but it also requires precision to ensure the peaceful and joyful aura of the Maitreya statue. With each stone hanging upside down in a difficult position, it sometimes took us 3-4 days to complete,” Mr. Thi shared.
The most special thing about this project is that from simple sandstone stones, a giant statue of Bodhisattva Maitreya has taken vivid shape with a joyful smile and eyes from Sitting peacefully, beautiful and lively like a sculpture.
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