SWISS INFO
By Anand Chandrasekhar
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The Buddha statue at the site in Sahr-i-Bahlol from where it was excavated in 1909. |
The loan of a three-metre tall, 2,000-year-old Gandhara-period Buddha statue proved to be a bigger challenge than anticipated for Zurich’s Rietberg museum. Museum curator Johannes Beltz remembers when he first set eyes on the statue housed in the Peshawar museum, located near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. “The museum was half empty as many exhibits were on their way to South Korea for an exhibition on Buddhism. The other artefacts were covered up as there was some renovation work going on,” he told swissinfo.ch. Disappointed, Beltz asked for the largest statue to be unveiled. It was love at first sight and he was determined to bring the huge stone sculpture to Switzerland. [
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The Buddha statue being hoisted into place at the Rietberg museum. |
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The statue had remained at same spot in the Peshawar museum for over a hundred years. |
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Swiss stone conservator Tobias Hotz was the only one with experience in moving large stone sculptures |