Nepalese Peace Pagoda
The Nepal Peace Pagoda in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is located at the transformed Brisbane World Expo 88 site, South Bank Parklands. It is one of the most significant heritage items in Brisbane from the hosting of the Expo. It is the only international exhibit remaining on the site.
Origins
In 1986, the United Nations International Year of Peace, the Kingdom of Nepal agreed to participate in World Expo '88, and the Association to Preserve Asian Culture was commissioned to create, operate for the Expo, and find a new home for the Pagoda at the Expo's conclusion.Construction
The Peace Pagoda was built by a German architect on behalf of the Kingdom of Nepal. Immediately, of indigenous Nepalese timber were sourced from the Terai jungle forest of Nepal, carted across to the capital Kathmandu where 160 Nepalese families worked for two years at crafting its diverse elements. These were then shipped to Australia in two containers and one container, where they were assembled at the Expo site by a handful of Australian workers under Nepalese supervision and architect Jochen Reier. The final assembly for Expo 88 took six months.During the Expo
Three-levelled, with a beautiful tea house on the second level, and one of the only hand-crafted pavilions, the Pagoda became one of the most visited and photographed pavilions at the Expo. Towards the end of the Expo, a group of persons called Friends of the Pagoda established a petition to keep the Pagoda in Brisbane after the conclusion of the Expo, with some 70,000 signatories, which the architect and chairman of APAC, Jochen Reier had collected during Expo.Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to ascend Mount Everest, was VIP guest to the Pagoda during the Expo on 8 August 1988.
Artistic and religious heritage
The Pagoda is one of only three Nepal Peace Pagodas outside of Nepal, all built by the German architect Jochen Reier, who had the dream, to bring Peace Pagodas to all five Continents. The other two being in Munich and Osaka, and are identical of Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, with significant Hindu and Buddhist iconography representing the different Avatars of Shiva, Buddhas in different states of meditation, or madras, the eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism, a sacred statue of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhist deity of compassion, as well as a Peace Bell, two smaller side Pavilions, a Buddhist stupa, and a Peace Post, with the calling to World Peace in four languages Japanese, French, Spanish and English. Sanskrit prayer chants also feature inscribed on the roof eaves of the two side Pavilions, as well as the inscription for om above the central door.Whilst not used as a traditional Buddhist or Hindu center, it is occasionally used for weddings, private functions, book launches and company events, and many visitors can be seen using the Pagoda's internal first level Church pews for personal meditation. South Bank Corporation manages the Pagoda on behalf of the Roma Street Parkland and the City of Brisbane.