The newest landmark on the High Line is a Buddha cast, in part, from the weapons of war. Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s “The Light That Shines Through the Universe” — a 27-foot sculpture reimagining one of the colossal Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 — was installed on the elevated park’s Plinth in spring 2026 and will remain on view through fall 2027.

A monument rebuilt from what destroyed it

The work reimagines “Salsal,” the larger of the two 6th-century sandstone Buddhas that stood for some 1,400 years in the Bamiyan Valley of central Afghanistan until the Taliban dynamited them in March 2001 in one of the era’s most notorious acts of cultural destruction. Nguyen’s response is not a replica but a reconstitution. The figure’s hands are cast from melted-down brass artillery shells gathered in Afghanistan and reshaped into Buddhist mudras — gestures symbolizing fearlessness and compassion. Materials that were once instruments of harm, in the artist’s framing, become gestures of healing. The figure rests on a sandstone base that nods to the Bamiyan cliffs themselves.

The artist

Tuan Andrew Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American artist who works between Ho Chi Minh City and the United States, has built much of his practice around the afterlives of war, colonialism and displaced objects, frequently working with reclaimed military materials. The High Line Plinth gives that work its largest and most public New York platform to date. Of the towering brass figure, Nguyen told The New York Times: “Even in the midst of chaos and violence, we can remain compassionate and fearless. I imagine against the skyline these super polished brass hands, as they sparkle in the sun, will be something very spectacular.”

How it was chosen

“The Light That Shines Through the Universe” is the fifth commission for the High Line Plinth, the dedicated site for rotating monumental public art on the park’s Spur at 30th Street and 10th Avenue. The High Line said the work was selected from 56 proposals by 49 artists around the world, with 12 shortlisted before the Plinth Committee — an international advisory panel — made its choice. The program, modeled in part on London’s Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, has become one of the most visible public-art commissions in the country, seen by the millions who walk the High Line each year.

A summer of programming

The High Line has built public programming around the sculpture, inviting visitors to gather at its base for a meditation and learning series running through the warmer months. For a park already known as much for its art as its plantings, the Buddha — luminous, freighted with history, rebuilt from the metal of conflict — gives the 2026 season its defining image, towering over the West Side rail viaduct against the Manhattan skyline.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the new High Line Plinth sculpture?
'The Light That Shines Through the Universe' by Tuan Andrew Nguyen, a 27-foot brass-and-sandstone work reimagining one of the 6th-century Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan, destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.
Where and when can I see it?
On the High Line's Spur at 30th Street and 10th Avenue in Manhattan, on view from spring 2026 through fall 2027.
What is it made of?
The hands are cast from melted-down brass artillery shells from Afghanistan, reshaped into Buddhist mudras; the figure sits on a sandstone base referencing the original Bamiyan cliffs.
Which Plinth commission is this?
It is the fifth High Line Plinth commission, selected from 56 proposals by 49 artists worldwide.