China's ancient giant Buddha to meet public again

Chinese archeologists have completed a maintenance project on the third largest Buddha statue in northwest China's Gansu Province, paving the way for the ancient legacy to meet the public again.

Built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the ancient Buddha statue is expected to reopen to visitors in early August in the Bingling Temple Grottoes, which is known for keeping China's earliest chronicle inscription in Yongjing County of Gansu.

After two years of maintenance, the giant Buddha will have to be assessed by experts from the province's cultural heritage administration before reopening to visitors, said Shi Jingsong, head of the Research Institute of Cultural Relics Preservation at Bingling Temple.

The maintenance started in June 2011 as the Buddha has been seriously eroded after surviving wars the later Song, Ming, Yuan and Qing dynasties.during the past millennium. Its head was crumbing, while the clay-made nose was destroyed. The chin, hands and clothes were also heavily mottled.

The latest maintenance was mainly intended to repair the face, hands and feet of the statue. Its base was also reinforced.

The Chinese government put the temple under national protection of major cultural relics in 1961.

China, Kazakhstan and Kyrghyzstan have jointly applied to UNESCO to have historical sites along the ancient Silk Road added to the organization's World Heritage List. The Bingling Temple Grottoes are among the sites.