Where is the Peace Pagoda?
The Dhamma Talaka Peace Pagoda is at 29-31 Osler Street, Ladywood, Birmingham, B16 9EU
In brief
Located in Ladywood, close to Edgbaston Reservoir is this Buddhist monastery. It opened in 1998 and is the only traditional Burmese style building in the Western hemisphere.
Peace Pagoda from Edgbaston Reservoir (February 2014). Photography by Elliott Brown
Dhamma Talaka Peace Pagoda - history
The Dhamma Talaka Pagoda was planned by Aggamahapandita Rewata Dhamma, to enshrine the Buddha relics of the former Buddhist royal family. Share with visiting monks by the exiled former king Thibaw Min of Burma, the relics passed into the hands of Dr Rewata Dhamma by 1964. The pagoda's name means the 'Reservoir of Teaching' and refers to it being behind Edgbaston Reservoir in Birmingham. The site was dedicated in 1990, and the pagoda was officially opened in an international ceremony in 1998.
Peace Pagoda from the Secret Garden at the Library of Birmingham (April 2016). Photography by Elliott Brown
The Sangharama Monastery was built in the same grounds in 2002, and the Rewata Dhamma teaching hall opened in 2007.
The base and the walls of the pagoda are octagonal. The interior is a gold painted shrine with a large marble statue of the Buddha in meditation posture. There is 28 Buddha's created on site by a Burmese workman and mounted in the inner dome.
The main relics are housed immediately above the dome, including a chunk of the Berlin Wall, which was collected when it was dismantled in 1989.
The pagoda is administered by the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Trust, which was set up in 1982.
Peace Pagoda - View from 103 Colmore Row, Key to the City (July 2022). Photography by Elliott Brown
Contact details
Dhamma Talaka Peace Pagoda
29-31 Osler Street
Ladywood
Birmingham
B16 9EU
0121 454 6591
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