Before sunrise on Nov. 1, teams began raising 108 Buddhist chortens along the Mau Chhu River in Gelephu, Bhutan. By noon, the day’s formal construction work was complete, according to an event-day report by The Daily Star. The project’s official record describes the structures as completed together in a single day, after months of preparation.
Project 108 was designed as a coordinated effort across 108 sites. Each chorten stands 15 meters tall, and the structures are spaced about 108 meters apart along a river corridor roughly 12 kilometers long, according to the project site and The Daily Star. The work turned a plan announced earlier this year into a visible line of monuments through the site of Gelephu Mindfulness City.
The one-day milestone depended on work done beforehand. Project 108’s official account lists land clearing, earthworks and foundations at 108 locations, preparation of stone and timber, and training for volunteer groups. The Daily Star’s report also describes the months of groundwork and preparation before Nov. 1. It said 20 to 24 people worked at each chorten, with materials ready before formal construction began at 3 a.m.
The project site describes the work as zhābto, a Bhutanese tradition of voluntary communal labor offered as spiritual practice. The Daily Star’s report names students, farmers, doctors, monks and retirees among those who joined. Rather than claim a precise head count, the account puts the focus on the way participants were organized to work together across the long corridor.
For some people in Gelephu, being part of the event meant contributing in a way suited to them. Bhutan Broadcasting Service reported that 70-year-old Sangay Wangchuk arrived at the grounds the evening before, among the first six people there. He told the broadcaster that he hoped to offer prayers for the country because he could not contribute materially.
The sounds around the ceremony stayed with him. BBS reported that 58 sets of dungchen, traditional long horns, sounded to mark the beginning and completion of the construction. Wangchuk described the opening sound as overwhelming. The account shows how a large public undertaking could hold a personal meaning for someone who came not to build a structure but to pray for the people around him.
Another attendee, Ngawang Choden, told BBS she had been preparing for two weeks and became tearful as she watched the chortens rise. The broadcaster’s report describes the horns sounding again when construction was complete, marking the change from anticipation to celebration. Her reaction and Wangchuk’s story offer two small views of a much larger gathering, without needing to turn an unverified audience estimate into a fact.
The Daily Star also spoke with Buddhist nun Emma Slade, who described the atmosphere as calm and respectful despite the scale of the gathering. She said the shared work made the experience powerful. The report’s on-site details and interviews add people’s perspectives to the official project record, which documents the preparation and the completed structures.
A chorten is a Buddhist stupa associated with sacred teachings and prayers. Project 108’s site explains that the number 108 carries significance in Buddhist practice and shapes both the number of structures and the distance between them. The project describes the finished monuments as a collective spiritual offering; the event-day reporting documents how volunteers and attendees took part in that idea.
The build is a concrete achievement, but its strongest lesson is also practical: work that appears to happen in one day may depend on months of shared preparation. Across Gelephu, people contributed labor, planning, training, materials, attendance and prayer. The 108 chortens now mark the result, while the accounts from Wangchuk, Choden and Slade preserve something of what the gathering meant to those who were there.
Project 108’s portal lets participants add photos, memories and prayers through Nov. 15. The FAQ says photos become public Feb. 21, 2027, while contributors may choose a later opening date for a prayer. Submission and reveal dates are separate.
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