Heilige Stadt von Mandarom Shambhasalem

The city built by the aumist sect, founded in 1969 by Gilbert Bourdin (1924-1998), is famous for its giant Cosmic Christ statues and the tallest seated Buddha statue in the Western world. The Mandarom became famous in 2001, when the authorities destroyed the illegally erected statue of the Cosmoplanetary Messiah (that was the name of the sect's founder).