Field Notes · Bhutan · Book Four

The Buddha Dordenma, Above Thimphu

A gilded bronze Buddha, the hall that is its throne, and a valley under moving cloud — read through Amogh N P's photographs from May 2024.

By Studio Matrx Editorial · Field Notes

Amogh N P standing alone in the middle of the great paved court of the Buddha Dordenma, the gilded statue seated above its painted throne hall, with gilded figures along the court and a forested ridge under heavy cloud — Amogh N P at the Buddha Dordenma, Thimphu, May 2024 — photograph by the family

On a ridge above the southern approach to Thimphu, a seated Buddha of bronze and gold looks down the valley. The Buddha Dordenma stands in Kuenselphodrang Nature Park, on the site of Kuensel Phodrang, the ruined palace of the thirteenth Druk Desi. Thimphu’s own municipal page gives its height as 54 metres.

It was completed in September 2015 to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The figure is cast in bronze and gilded, and it is not only a sculpture: inside it, according to the same municipal account, are 125,000 smaller Buddhas — 100,000 of them eight inches tall and 25,000 twelve inches tall — also of gilded bronze.

A building that is also a throne

The base is architecture. A hall, painted and carved in the Bhutanese manner, forms the throne on which the Buddha sits. You arrive across a wide paved court lined with smaller gilded figures, and the statue’s scale is read against the hall beneath it. From the far side of the court the hall is a building; from its foot it becomes a pedestal.

Amogh N P walking across the paved court toward the Buddha Dordenma, the statue seated above its throne hall against a forested ridge and heavy cloud — Amogh N P crossing the court — photograph by the family

Amogh’s frames

Amogh N P visited with his family in May 2024. His photographs do not try to fit the whole figure into one picture. One looks straight up from the foot of the throne, so the gilded walls of the hall fill the lower half of the frame and the Buddha sits far above. One finds the face against cloud. One turns to the profile, with white cloud behind. One leaves the statue out altogether and keeps only a gilded corner of the throne hall — a sharp gold edge against blue sky.

The Buddha Dordenma seen from the foot of its throne, the gilded walls of the throne hall filling the lower half of the frame — From the foot of the throne — photograph by Amogh N P

The bronze face and shoulders of the Buddha Dordenma against a pale clouded sky — The face against cloud — photograph by Amogh N P

Each frame isolates one relationship — figure and base, face and sky, edge and light — instead of collecting the monument as a postcard. They are the choices of someone looking at how a large object meets the ground and the sky.

In profile — photograph by Amogh N P

Light on gold

This is an issue about light, and gilding is a material that exists only in relation to it. Under a clear sky the statue flares. Under moving cloud, as in these photographs, the bronze of the figure reads darker and the gold of the hall turns warm and even. The same surface changes with every passing cloud — the subject of this issue’s material study, Brass After Dark, at the scale of a mountainside.

A gilded corner of the Buddha Dordenma throne hall, a sharp gold edge against blue sky — A gilded corner of the throne hall — photograph by Amogh N P

In the frame taken straight on from the court, the whole composition is visible at once: the painted hall, the gilded figures along the edge of the court, the Buddha above them, and the forested ridge behind, under heavy cloud.

The Buddha Dordenma seated above its painted throne hall, seen straight on from the court under dark cloud — The hall and the Buddha from the court — from Amogh N P’s camera roll

Sources: Thimphu Thromde, “Buddha Dordenma”; “Buddha Dordenma statue”, Wikipedia. Photographs by Amogh N P, May 2024, except where noted.

Make it real

Brass After Dark — this issue’s material study

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