Hussain Sagar, Hyderabad

About Hussain Sagar

Hussain Sagar is an artificial lake located in Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana. It was built in 1562 by Quli Qutb Shah on a tributary of the Musi River. The specialty of this lake is that it has a huge statue of Buddha which is the center of attraction among all the tourists.

The statue was constructed between 1983 -1989 by Shri Late NT Rama Rao, who was then serving as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. It took almost 2 years to install this wonderful statue of Buddha in the middle of this beautiful lake. The world's tallest monolithic stone statue of Gautam Buddha is located in Hussain Sagar.

Architecture of Hussain Sagar

This picturesque lake is spread over a vast area of ​​5.7 square kilometres. For more than a year, hundreds of laborers worked for the architect and builder of the temple, S.M. Ganpati Sthapathi got the statue constructed. After five years and a cost of US$3 million, the statue stood at 58 feet (18 m) and weighed 350 tons, making it the world's tallest monolithic statue of Buddha. Made entirely of white granite, this majestic statue is known as the "Rock of Gibraltar".

Interesting facts about Hussain Sagar

1. The Buddha statue is the brainchild of former Andhra Pradesh CM NT Rama Rao. He was greatly influenced by the Statue of Liberty in the United States of America, so he decided to give a statue to Hyderabad, the then capital of the Andhra state, which could become an iconic landmark.
2. This is probably the world's tallest monolithic statue of Gautam Buddha - which means it was carved out of a single piece of rock.
3. The sculpture took approximately 5 years and US$3 million to complete.
4. When the statue was being taken in the lake to the place where it was to be installed in 1990. A tragedy happened - the statue slipped into the lake and about 10 engineers died.
5. After two years, an attempt was made to install the statue as per the initial plan. And it was indeed a successful endeavor. The statue stands on a 15 feet concrete platform that supports the majestic sculpture.
6. In 2006, the Dalai Lama was invited to perform rituals that would help the idol attain divine status.
   

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