200 Ngultrums - Jigme Khesar Namgyel Leshan Giant Buddha

The Leshan Giant Buddha, carved from a Sichuan cliff face during the Tang Dynasty between 713 and 803 AD, was commissioned by a monk named Haitong who believed the sculpture would calm the treacherous currents where three rivers converge below it. The excavated stone was reportedly dumped into the rivers to alter the flow — and it worked, at least partially, by changing the riverbed topography.

Bhutan's Royal Monetary Authority issued several small-format gold pieces in this period commemorating UNESCO World Heritage Sites beyond its own borders, an unusual choice for a country that jealously guards its own cultural distinctiveness.