If you’re in Sydney at the moment, or going to be in the near future, I can highly recommend visiting the latest exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, The Lost Buddhas. I went and saw it on Friday afternoon and was thoroughly impressed by the serenity and beauty of these 6th century Chinese sculptures.
Their discovery, in 1996 by a group of construction workers leveling a sports field at a primary school, is thought by some to be on par with that of the Terracotta Warriors outside Xi’an in terms of archaeological significance. They are so well preserved (even though most of them are damaged in some way) that you can see dirt on some of them.
This picture isn’t one of the Buddhas from the exhibition though. It’s a picture I took in the sculpture gallery in the Shanghai Museum when I was there in May. To see the real thing you’ll have to head to the Art Gallery of NSW yourself. The exhibition runs until November 23 and is a pretty good way to spend eight bucks if you ask me.
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