Volunteers apply the final touches to a Buddhist stupa as part of the construction of 108 stupas, each standing 15 meters tall, in Gelephu Mindfulness City, Bhutan, on Sunday. | REUTERS

Gelephu, Bhutan – Tens of thousands of volunteers helped raise 108 Buddhist stupas in Bhutan on Sunday, marking the Himalayan kingdom’s ambitious plans for a “mindfulness” city aimed at driving economic growth.

The 15-meter-tall solid towers — sacred Buddhist monuments found across the Himalayas — stretch along 12 kilometers of riverbank near the Indian border, at the site of the future Gelephu Mindfulness City.

More than 40,000 volunteers participated in building the structures as “a physical form of prayer made permanent in stone and earth,” after starting work after midnight, officials said.

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