ROSTOV-ON-DON, December 7 (RIA Novosti, Ilya Livada) - A factory in the southern Russian city of Volgodonsk has made Europe's largest Buddha statue, the factory's technical director said Wednesday.

Viktor Sergiyenko said the nine-meter fiberglass statue representing Buddha sitting on a throne weighed less than its analogues.

The statue will be installed in a newly-built Buddhist center in Elista, the capital city of the Russian republic of Kalmykia on the Caspian Sea, where most of the population follow Buddhism.

Along with the statue, which cost almost $70,000 to make, the Volgodonsk factory will provide the center with a 12-meter temple spire and a seven-tier pagoda.