Lost Buddhas on show

An exhibition of ancient Buddhist statues has opened, which has been compared to the archaeological discovery of the First Emperor's terracotta army. The Lost Buddhas: Chinese Buddhist sculpture from Qingzhou opened on August 29th at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Thirty-five of the 6th-century stone Buddhas are on display in Australia for the first time after being unearthed by construction workers at a sports field in 1996. 400 figurines were uncovered, having been wrapped and buried in the 12th-century in the grounds of the Longxing Temple in Qingzhou, Shandong province. The items are on loan from the Qingzhou Municipal Museum and will be exhibited until November 23rd. Art Gallery director Edmund Capon said: ‘What is so surprising about these sculptures is, firstly, their sheer modernity and, secondly, how distinguished and distinctive they are in their place in the history of Chinese art and Chinese Buddhist sculpture.’