Buddhist temple made of beer bottles collapses under its own weight
A Buddhist temple made of beer bottles collapsed under its own weight in Thailand.
The Temple of a Million Bottles – also known as Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew – is famous for being made out of recycled materials.
As the name suggests, more than 1.5million glass bottles were used in the construction of various pagodas at the complex.
They are covered inside and out by an intricate mosaic of bottles embedded into concrete.
But the load-bearing abilities of one pagoda failed on Tuesday, raising doubts about the engineering of the structure when it was first built in November 2023.
Footage shows broken pieces of the ruined temple scattered along the ground in Amphoe Khun Harn District, Sisaket province on April 24, the following day.
Only the roof is still somewhat intact, sitting bent atop the rubble.
Another temple made of recycled bottles could be seen still standing.
A local says in the video: ‘Today I bring you to the area that is currently broken. As for the other areas, the repair construction is still ongoing.’
No one was harmed when the temple, one of the newer pagodas in the complex, collapsed.
It measured 10 metres in width, 10 metres in length, and 15 metres in height.
The collapse hasn’t thwarted the dreams of the man who built it though.
Temple abbot Phra Waiphot Thammaparo, who built the structure by himself, started construction last year.
But his old age led to him hiring workers with donations from religious devotees.
He’s determined to see the temple restored using recycled material.
The abbot said: ‘The reason that the pagoda collapsed was because two sides contained pillars bearing weight while another side lacked it.
‘The pillars are also small due to the small size of metal used in construction because I constructed the pagoda based on the limited donation I received.
‘From now on, I have to remove the damaged construction material to create a new one, which will be a place to store the ashes of Luang Pho Lod, my father, who made this temple famous worldwide.
‘The construction of the new temple will still use bottles, which was my father’s dream.’
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