600-Year-Old Buddha Emerges From The Lake In China

Archeologists think that this 12.5 feet (3.8 meters) tall statue could date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), which stunned spectators of just how well it’s preserved. The scientists think that the underwater period since 1958, when the reservoir was built, might have helped shelter the statue from other elements as well.

The statue was originally built in the ancient town of Xiaoshi, and is thought to to be a spiritual protector from the two rivers, clashing in the area.

To those, surprised how such thing could have gone underwater, the recent history of China holds the answer. The statue was submerged in 1960 when the Hongmen reservoir was built, and back then the local authorities simply weren’t aware of heritage protection, explained Xu Changqing, director of the Research Institute of Archaeology of Jiangxi province.

Yet there still are those, who remember the statue before the flooding. Like Huang Keping, a 82-year-old local blacksmith, who saw the Buddha first time in 1952: “I remember the statue was gilded at that time,” he told Xinhua.