Statue
The original statue, made of copper, was built after appeals to the Mongolian public; its intent was to restore the sight of Bogd Javzandamba (or the eighth Jebtsundamba, also known as Bogd Khan), who had claimed the title of Emperor of Mongolia. The statue was built by Bogd Javzandamba's principal minister, Chin Wan Khanddorj. Russian troops dismantled the original statue in 1938. After the end of the Soviet era, the statue of Migjid Janraisig was rebuilt in 1996, funded by donations by the Mongolian people. It features 2,286 precious stones and is gilded with gold leaf.
Since 1992 Supreme Leader of the Centre of All Mongolian Buddhists and Abbot Lama of Gandantegchenling Monastery is His Eminence Khamba Lama, Gabju Choijamts Demberel.
The monastery is surrounded by the Gandan ger suburb.
Read more about this topic: Gandantegchinlen Monastery
Famous quotes containing the word statue:
“Only he who can view his own past as an abortion sprung from compulsion and need can use it to full advantage in the present. For what one has lived is at best comparable to a beautiful statue which has had all its limbs knocked off in transit, and now yields nothing but the precious block out of which the image of one’s future must be hewn.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“The statue of Freedom has not been cast yet, the furnace is hot, we can all still burn our fingers.”
—Georg Büchner (1813–1837)
“The mind, in short, works on the data it receives very much as a sculptor works on his block of stone. In a sense the statue stood there from eternity. But there were a thousand different ones beside it, and the sculptor alone is to thank for having extricated this one from the rest.”
—William James (1842–1910)