Biggest, tallest buddha statute in town destroyed
Sunday, January 13, 2008
In late December 2007, the authorities surreptitiously destroyed one of Cambodia's largest Buddha statutes which had been recently erected in the compound of a pagoda (Wat Nirot) in the southern part of Phnom Penh. The statute, built with donations from Cambodians living in the USA, was over 50 meters high. Its removal was necessary to widen National Road # 1 leading to Vietnam. Its destruction had to be surreptitious in order not to shock the population in this predominantly Buddhist nation.
