LookAtVietnam – The world’s biggest jade block has been transported from Myanmar to Vietnam to make into the world’s largest Buddha statue weighing in at 15 tonnes.

The 35 tonne jade block.

On October 18, former Party chief Le Kha Phieu, local authorities and Dao Trong Cuong, vice director of the Vietnam Gem and Jewelry Institute and director of the Than Chau Ngoc Viet Gem-made Painting Company opened the seal of a 35 tonne jade block in the northern province of Hai Duong. This jade block was transported from Myanmar to Vietnam on October 10.

This jade block is considered to be the largest in the world, weighing 35 tonnes and is 3m by 2.3m by 2.4m thick. The size of a large SUV.

Cuong and craftsmen colleagues will now travel to India and Nepal to see Buddha statues before turning their hands to sculpting the world’s biggest jade Buddha statue from this huge block.

The gem-made portraits of some chies of state made by artisan Dao Trong Cuong.

Cuong first saw the block three years ago at an international jade auction in Myanmar and in October 2009 moved to bring it to Vietnam at a cost of $1.45 million.

He hopes the giant jade Buddha statue will help advertise the image of Vietnam to the world.

Artisan Dao Trong Cuong is an expert on precious stones and creates gem-made paintings. He was the artist behind gem-made portraits of chiefs of state from 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) which attended the APEC Summit 2006 in Hanoi.

He also made and presented gem-made portraits of Cuban President Fidel Castro and US billionaire Bill Gates.

The current world’s largest jade Buddha statue is only 3.5 tonnes in weight. It was introduced in Vietnam in April 2009.

Do Minh