Reclining Buddha: Thich Hue Vinh, the abbot of Quan The Am Temple introducing a valuable antique which has been stored in his temple for a long time. — Photo thanhnien.vn

 DA NANG (VNS) — Hundreds of Buddhist antiques which have been stored in a temple in Da Nang City for many years will be exhibited to the public on December 24 for the first time.

The municipal People's Committee decided to establish the Buddhist Cultural Museum as a place to display the antiques in the Quan The Am Temple, Ngu Hanh Son District, by the end of 2014. This is the first Buddhist Culture Museum in Viet Nam.

Huynh Dinh Quoc Thien, deputy director of the Da Nang Museum, said they accidentally discovered a "treasure-house" of about 500 objects, with more than 200 antiques which were assessed at the Quan The Am Temple.

"We sent experts to study this large number of antiques with assistance from the temple's monks," said Thien.

"The collection of Buddhist antiques which are preserved at the Quan The Am Temple have great value. From the Buddha statues, bronze censers, to objects of worship all are unique treasures," Thien added.

Nguyen Dinh Chien, deputy director of the Viet Nam National History Museum, said he was impressed at their rare and precious value.

He said that many of these antiques are national treasures such as a statue, which was made of precious white jade in the shape of the Bodhisattvas holding a baby in her arms, or a set of eight Buddha statues, made of bronze in the 9th century.

The temple has prepare a big exhibition space of about 700sq.m to showcase more than 300 antiques relating to Buddhism.

In addition, many ancient Buddha statues have been donated from countries across the world for exhibition. — VNS