Norway Presents Ancient Buddhist Scripture

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Norway presents ancient scripture

By The Nation

A 2,000-year-old Buddhist scripture presented by Norway will be put on public display at the Buddhamondhol complex in Nakhon Pathom as part of the observation of Asarnha Bucha Day on Friday.

The document, kept at a Norwegian museum after it was removed from the now-destroyed Bamiyan temples in Afghanistan, will be permanently stored at Sa Ket Temple in Bangkok.

Thailand is the only country to receive such an artefact from the Norwegian government, partly in honour of His Majesty the King's 84th birthday in December.

Phra Wijit Thammaphorn, deputy abbot of Wat Sa Ket, said a shelter would be built at the Golden Mount to house the treasure, which would be placed in a glass bowl that replicates its original clay bowl.

An exhibition in the shelter will be opened for the public on Friday, featuring the history of the Bamiyan temples and Buddhism in Afghanistan in ancient times, he said.

-- The Nation 2011-07-12