A gilded statue of the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, has been found in a stupa, which collapsed in Alashan in Inner Mongolia in July this year. The statue weighs around 25 kg (55 Pound) and is believed to be over 300 years old.
According to a Xinhua report in Chinese from Ningxia dated August 10, 2003, monks of Nan Monastery (Nansi) heard a loud noise in the afternoon of July 16, 2003 and found that one of the two white stupas that was in the area had collapsed. The stupa was 10 meters (33 feet) tall.
Quoting the monastery’s deputy abbot, Lama Dorjee, the report said the monks found among the debris more than 10,000 small statues, Tibetan Buddhist scriptures weighing 2000 kgs (4,410 Pounds), five types of grains, gold, silver, and other precious stones. Among these was the statue of the Sixth Dalai Lama.The report said the statue was broken with the head separated from the body and the left shoulder and the right hand damaged with three fingers missing. The statue of the Sixth Dalai Lama was placed in the stupa when it underwent repair in 1981, it said. It said the stupas had escaped damage during the Cultural Revolution.