Mumbai gets Asia’s Tallest Monument
Mumbai’s newest landmark, the majestic 325-feet tall Global Vipassana Pagoda, the tallest pillar-less dome in the world, was inaugurated and dedicated as a ‘world monument of peace and harmony’ by President Pratibha Patil.
The structure looms majestically over the GVF complex, spread over 13 acres in Gorai, Mumbai, barely a kilometre from the Arabian Sea. Pagodas are multi-tiered structures common in China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and other countries where Buddhism is followed. The structure measures 280 feet in diameter and 90 feet in height, and is flanked by two 60-ft tall pagodas.
Designed by Indian architect Chandubhai Sompura on the lines of the She Dagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, this pagoda is a hollow structure, having a dome of 280 feet diameter. Below it is a massive 6,000-sq pillar-less meditation hall which can accommodate 8,000 people at a time.
The dome is more than three times the size of the large masonry structure - the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur, Karnataka, which is 90 feet in diameter. The original bone relics of Gautam Buddha, donated by the Sri Lankan government and the Mahabodhi Society of India, have been enshrined in the central locking stone of the dome.
The pagoda is the outcome of efforts by nearly 700 laborers toiling daily for the past 11 years to make what is billed as the 8th wonder of the world.
Combining ancient building principles with modern techniques of construction, Sompura finally guided a structure using the ‘interlocking principle of construction’ for the huge stones - each weighing around 600-700 kg. The entire structure has consumed over 2.5 million tonnes of Jodhpur stone, which were cut in quarries around Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and transported to Mumbai.
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