After Years of Waiting: More Than 1,000 Buddha Statues Arrive in Deventer

Earlier this week, a large shipping container made its way through the streets of Deventer. Its final destination was Original Buddhas.

From the outside, it looked like another 40-foot container. But behind its doors was something we had been waiting a very long time to see: more than 1,000 statues had finally arrived.

Two months from Thailand to Deventer

The container left Thailand around two months ago. Inside were wooden crates of almost every imaginable size. Some contained smaller statues carefully packed together. Others had been specially constructed around large and heavy individual pieces.

Every piece in the shipment is new inventory for Original Buddhas. For us, however, this arrival represents much more than a new shipment.

"For many of the statues in this container, the wait lasted more than three years."

Some pieces took more than three years to arrive

Building a collection like this does not happen in a few weeks. Pieces are found at different moments and under very different circumstances. Some can be transported relatively quickly. Others require considerably more patience.

For many of the statues in this container, Peter Vredeveld had been waiting for more than three years before they could finally make their way to the Netherlands.

That made opening the container particularly special. After years of searching, selecting and waiting, the pieces were suddenly here, just a few metres from our gallery.

Unloading more than 1,000 statues

Opening the doors was only the beginning. The container was packed from front to back. Piece by piece, crate by crate, everything had to be carefully removed.

Some could be carried by hand. Larger crates required the forklift. Slowly, the container emptied while the courtyard around Original Buddhas filled with wooden frames, boxes and carefully wrapped statues.

For several hours, the normally peaceful surroundings of our gallery were transformed into a temporary unloading area.

Only when the crates were standing outside did the scale of the shipment become fully visible. Buddha figures could already be seen beneath their protective wrapping, while many others remained completely hidden inside their crates.

More than a thousand individual pieces had completed their journey.

The beginning of another journey

Arrival in Deventer does not mean that the work is finished. In many ways, it is only the beginning.

Over the coming period, the pieces will gradually be unpacked, inspected, researched, measured and photographed. Each statue will receive individual attention before it is eventually presented through Original Buddhas.

This process takes time, especially with a shipment of this size. And that is precisely how we want it.

Behind every statue is its own history, craftsmanship and journey. We prefer to take the time to examine each piece properly rather than simply place hundreds of new objects online at once.

Years of collecting, finally together in Deventer

Seeing the entire shipment together was an unusual moment. Pieces that had been found years apart were now standing side by side in Deventer. Some had been waiting for transport for more than three years. Others had joined the collection much more recently.

After a two-month journey from Thailand, they had finally reached their destination.

For visitors to Original Buddhas, this means that a substantial new selection will become available over the coming months. Not all at once. One piece at a time.

And for us, that gradual process of discovery is one of the most interesting parts of receiving a new collection. Opening a crate can reveal a statue we have not seen for years. Details that were difficult to appreciate when it was first acquired become visible again. Patina, carving, proportions and traces of age can finally be studied properly.

There are still many crates waiting to be opened. We look forward to sharing what we find inside.

Discover what arrives next

New pieces from this shipment will gradually be added to the Original Buddhas collection at originalbuddhas.com.