BIG BUDDHA

               Phuket Big Buddha, or The Great Buddha of Phuket, is a seated Maravija Buddha statue in Phuket, Thailand. The official name is Phra Phutta Ming Mongkol. It is the third-tallest statue in Thailand behind only the Great Buddha of Thailand and Luangpho Yai. The Buddha statue depicts Gautama in a sitting position and is 45 meters (148 feet) tall and 25.45 meters (83.5 feet) wide. It is made of concrete and covered with Burmese white marble. Facing towards Chalong Bay the statue is the main Buddha of the Wat Kitthi Sankaram temple (Wat Kata). The statue was declared the "Buddhist Treasure of Phuket" by Somdet Phra Yanasangwon, the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, in 2008. The statue cost 30 million Baht, sourced primarily from donations. It was built legally in a national conserved forest with the approval of the Thai Royal Forest Department.