In 1993, His Holiness the Dalai Lama consecrated an 8-foot gold-plated statue of Buddha in India's capital, New Delhi. On that occasion, he expressed the wish that such a statue should be erected on every continent, as a gift to the people living there.

An essential Buddhist element of the botanika under construction is the Enlightenment Stupa. This was built in a Buddhist monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, in fine stonemasonry, then disassembled into many small parts, packed in boxes and sent to Germany. Here in Bremen, in the meantime, the building site had been ritually cleaned and blessed, then the construction and filling began under the direction of the Buddhists from Bremen. Finally, on May 25, 2002, the solemn, five-hour consecration took place.

On June 3, after two years of construction, the botanika in Rhododendron Park was opened with a big celebration.

In 2005, the botanika people hear for the first time that Bremen has been shortlisted for the location of the European Peace Buddha. They did not apply for it. Four years later, in May 2009, comes the official confirmation: The offer to accept the European Peace Buddha as a gift. The answer: We feel very honored and gladly accept the gift.

A promise is quickly sent, but the realization becomes a nail-biter and from year to year more of an exciting story. The hope for the coming of the statue, which germinates again and again, is nipped in the bud each time. Many proposals for a location are developed and discarded, plans for a Buddha house are made and rejected. It goes on like this for many years. The problem is that none of the political leaders wants to make a decision, and no city money is to be spent on the project. And donors cannot be found. 

In the meantime, in Bylakuppe, a place in South India, the big statue is being worked on diligently. Again and again the Tibet House in New Delhi sends pictures and asks when the statue could be picked up. By the way: The statue itself is a gift, the transport and the installation in Bremen has to be paid by the people themselves.

In 2010, garden architect Charly Schreckenberg develops beautiful designs for the placement and presentation of the statue in the park. In the process, he recalls in the plans the location of the Peace Buddha in India on an island. However, despite initially receiving approval, everything is ultimately discarded.

After the decision that the Peace Buddha should not be placed in the park, but in the botanika, the plans for the Buddha Pavilion in the west of the Japanese Garden, developed by the architect SCHULZE PAMPUS, ARCHITEKTEN BDA, emerge.

In 2013 the news comes from India that the statue is now ready gilded and should be picked up soon. 

It comes in October 2014 the urgent request: "We would therefore request you again to kindly update us in regard and inform us the details of shipping both the Buddha statue and the mantra retention." 

Instead of a response, an immediate suspension of all activities concerning the Buddha statue is ordered at the beginning of November 2014.

Miraculously, the project goes ahead after all: In March 2015, the private association "Die sieben Faulen" agrees to bring the Buddha statue and the mantras from India to Bremen at its own expense!

In November 2015, the statue will be packed for shipment to Germany. A shipping company has made contact, the anticipation in Bremen is rising. But: nothing happens. What is going on?

That was what was going on: the export license from the Reserve Bank of India for the statue was still missing. This finally arrives, 109 emails and eight months later, on July 15, 2016. Is it finally going to start now?

On August 3, the transport ship was named for 8/25.
From now on hurdles followed hurdles. More and more new forms, confirmations, documents were requested from Indian authorities, including a confirmation from Germany, which was delivered within half a day.

But the difficulties remain. After the missing documents, storms and strikes are now added as obstacles to the approximately 1,000 kilometer long truck transport from Bylakuppe to Mumbay. Thus, both the first notified ship and the second ship depart without the valuable cargo. Nervousness is on the rise.

On September 23, the ship transport from India finally starts. But first it goes to South Korea, where the boxes with Buddha and mantras are temporarily stored on an unprotected, open wagon in a port.

The official letter from Tibet House to Bremen's mayor once again describes the uniqueness of this gift

A belated Christmas present: on December 28, the ship with the precious cargo reaches Bremerhaven and is received by the relieved Bremen residents.

There is great joy and gratitude when the statue can be carefully unpacked in a shed in the Rhododendron Park Bremen on January 5, 2017. It has now been in its packaging for two years and has traveled halfway around the world. I wonder how she survived that. Fortunately undamaged, all present are overwhelmed and happy when the golden statue is uncovered piece by piece under the thick foils. The spiritual director of the Tibetan Center Hamburg, Geshe Pema Samten, welcomes the Peace Buddha with a short prayer. He then selects the tree of life for the statue in the rhododendron park, which is later felled under the full moon.

The statue was only beautiful from the outside, inside it had come raw from the workshop. For an entire weekend in May 2017, the members of the Buddhist Center Bremen worked on the statue under the guidance of Stefanie Karrasch, cleaning it, sealing the still open spots and preparing the filling. 

On August 18, 2017, under the guidance of Geshe Pema Samten, the filling ceremony of the great statue starts. Interspersed with repeated ceremonial pujas, countless mantra scrolls, the Kanjur volumes, a golden heart stupa, a large double dordji made of rock crystal, numerous Tsa Tsas, large quantities of precious herbs and powders and, of course, the tree of life are packed into the statue and the lotus throne. After the sealing, the exciting erection of the statue begins. A crane is used to hoist the body of the statue onto the lotus throne, a very exciting action. Everyone involved is very relieved and grateful when this is accomplished after more than four hours. 

On August 20, the solemn consecration of the now completed Peace Buddha will take place in front of a large appreciative audience. The wish of His Holiness the Dalai Lama has come true in Europe.