Wat Pa Maha Chedi Keo ( Thai วัด ป่า มหา เจดีย์ แก้ว , literally Forest Temple of the Great Glass Pagoda), also known as Wat Lan Kuat ( Thai. วัด ล้าน ขวด ), which means the Temple of a Million Bottles, is a Buddhist temple complex in the village of Khuhan Thai province of Sisaket near the border with Cambodia . The entire temple complex is built from more than 1.5 million empty Heineken and Chang beer bottles . Empty bottles began to be collected in 1984, and after 2 years the main part of the temple was already completed [1] . The monks continue to expand the complex. By 2017, the complex has 20 buildings built from old beer bottles [2] . At the moment, the temple is on the list of environmentally friendly sights of Southeast Asia [3] .
| Wat | |
| Wat Pa Maha Chedi Keo | |
|---|---|
| วัด ป่า มหา เจดีย์ แก้ว | |
 | |
| A country |  Thailand |
| Location | Khuhan, Sisaket |
| Denomination | Buddhism |
| Building | 1984 - 1986 |
History
Phra Khru Vivek Dharmajahn, being a wandering monk at that time, stopped in a vacant lot near the village of Khuhan, where he began to preach and teach Buddhist truths. The monk decided to stay in that wasteland littered with garbage [4] . He also looked for a way to help the local waste management system , show locals the path to greener living [5] and reduce greenhouse gas emissions [6] . Phra Khru Vivek Dharmajahn, along with other monks in 1984 began to collect empty glass bottles and decorated them with their cells [7] . This attracted the local laity who began to bring glass bottles to the monks when they visited. Soon, the number of bottles became so large that it became possible to build a temple from them [2] . The monks also asked the local authorities to send them empty discarded bottles, which, in addition to the temple itself, also included a crematorium, prayer rooms, a central hall, a water tower, visitor bathrooms and several small bungalows raised above the ground, serving the monks as living rooms [ 3] .
Design
At the heart of the main temple, located in the middle of the pond [8] , is a concrete skeleton, around which walls of bottles are erected. Most monks used green Heineken bottles and brown ones for Chang beer [3] . In addition to the bottles themselves, the monks also used old beer caps , laying out a mosaic from them [3] .
It is interesting that in the 60s, Heineken developed a design of bottle- bricks that could be used in construction [9] . Fearing negative advertising in the event that a building constructed from their bottles collapses, the company abandoned this idea [10] .
Notes
- ↑ Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew - วัด ป่า มหา เจดีย์ แก้ว www.thailande-guide.com. Date of treatment November 23, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 Buddhist Temples Made from Recycled Glass Bottles | Buddhistdoor . www.buddhistdoor.net. Date of treatment November 23, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Buddhist temple built out of one million beer bottles (English) (February 18, 2009). Date of treatment November 23, 2017.
- ↑ 'Temple of a MILLION BOTTLES' - The Nation , The Nation . Date of treatment November 23, 2017.
- ↑ Michael Jerryson. The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism . - Oxford University Press, 2016-11-01. - 1122 s. - ISBN 9780190623401 .
- ↑ Un million de bouteilles de bière pour bâtir un temple bouddhiste (French) . www.20minutes.fr. Date of treatment November 23, 2017.
- ↑ Editorial, Reuters . Buddhist temple builds refuge from refuse (English) , UK . Date of treatment November 23, 2017.
- ↑ Heinz Duthel. Duthel Thailand Guide III: Isan - 16th. Edition 2015 . - Books on Demand, 2015-04-02. - 428 p. - ISBN 9783734779800 .
- ↑ The story behind the WOBO - Heineken Collection (inaccessible link) . www.heinekencollection.com. Date of treatment November 23, 2017. Archived December 1, 2017.
- ↑ Heineken WOBO: When Beer Met Architecture (Eng.) , ArchDaily (March 22, 2013). Date of treatment November 23, 2017.