Architecture of Lingshan Grand Buddha Zone

In name， Lingshan Grand Buddha Scenic Zone is part of Taihu Lake National Park of Wuxi， a key city in southern Jiangsu Province. In nature， however， the 30-hectare area is actually a Buddhist sanctuary. Lingshan Brahma Palace， the latest addition to the zone， was unveiled on March 28， 2009 when high Buddhist monks from more than 50 countries and regions came to Wuxi to attend the 2nd World Buddhism Forum.

The zone is 17 kilometers out of the downtown of Wuxi. It has mountains on three sides and faces the Taihu Lake. It takes about 15 minutes by boat to reach nearby famous sightseeing attractions on the lake.

With a built-up area of nearly 50，000 square meters， Lingshan Brahma Palace is a compound with a series of independent function buildings such as the entrance hall， the colonnade hall， the pagoda hall， the altar， the conference room equipped with a simultaneous interpretation system， and the banquet hall that can seat 1，000. The palace glows with furnishings and artworks such as woodcarving from Dongyang， porcelains， relief sculptures from Zhejiang， lacquer work from Yangzhou， murals hand-painted by masters from Dunhuang， and oil paintings in the western style.

The grandest artwork inside the palace is “Lotus World，” an 80-square-meter colored glass mural situated at the end of Colonnade Hall. The entire masterpiece is a montage of 156 individual glasses. The “Lotus World” is luxuriously made of 15 kilograms of gold， 500 kilograms of silver and 120，000 precious stones such as cat’s eyes， emerald， jade， and crystal， among other things. The attendees of the 2nd World Buddhism Forum in 2009 were amazed by the mural because it portrays the consummate world. Also inside the palace is a circular theater， the largest one in China. What makes the theater unique is more than its size. The theater has 2，000 mats in the center of the space so that you can sit down on them in the monk’s way and the mats are circled by a moving stage. The stage can be closed if not in use.

If the Brahma Palace is amazing in size， what is outside the grand structure is definitely more spectacular in size.

A grand white pagoda surrounded by eight smaller ones is a typical Buddhist structure seen in the south of China. Seventeen meter taller than the stone Grand Buddha statue in Leshan， Sichuan Province， the 88-meter-tall Grand Buddha made of bronze-tin alloy is the biggest structure in the zone， accessed by a flight of 218 steps. About 700 tons of bronze was used to make the statue. The 1，560 bronze plates， if spread out， covered an area of 9，000 square meters.

The most popular structure， however， is a bronze replica of the right hand of the 88-meter-tall Buddha Statue. The independent right hand was supposed to offer pilgrims an opportunity to be close to Buddha without taking the flight of 218 steps. The idea proves to be extremely popular. Thirteen tons in weight， the bronze hand is 11.7 meter tall and 5.5 meter wide. Pilgrims touch the hand to have direct blessing from Buddha. A 6-story circular platform stands in the water. Constructed by Tibetan technicians， it represents the Tibetan Buddhism.

At the foot of the Grand Buddha is a museum where visitors can see exhibits of Buddhist culture and art. From the foot of the Grand Buddha， visitors can reach a large hall where there are close to 10，000 miniature Buddha statues based on the 88-meter-tall one.