Lucknow: In an effort to boost religious tourism in Uttar Pradesh, the state government has expedited the project to install a 51-feet tall bronze statue of Lord Buddha in Kaushambi.
Under the Department of Culture UP, the State Lalit Kala Academy has initiated the e-tender process through a short-term notice in this context. This will complete the process of determining and allocating the work to an agency for the construction and installation of the statue.
In addition, the designated agency will have to complete the statue installation work within 7 months of allocation. In the first month, a prototype of the statue will be created and after approval, the main statue will be completed and installed within the next 6 months.
The statue of Mahatma Buddha will be built using the hollow cast method. Notably, the statue will not be made by joining bronze sheets but will be cast using the lost wax process. The bronze alloy used for the statue will consist of 85 percent copper, 5 percent lead, 5 percent tin and 5 percent zinc.
During this process, the statue will weigh 52 tons of bronze, while an additional 20 tons of iron will be used for its installation. The statue will be hollow inside, with a metal casting thickness of 7 to 8 millimetres.
It may be noted that Mahatma Buddha spent the Chaturmas in Kaushambi, where he imparted the message of truth and non-violence. As a result, followers of Buddhism from around the world come here to visit and worship at this Buddhist site.
