The giant statue was built after one of its employees saw a woman dressed in white walking on the sea as she was about closing the temple at night, believed as the appearance of Guan Yin herself.

In the Moon Festival of 1978, on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese Calendar, a temple was built about 500 meters to the south of the current location of Sanggar Agung.

In the beginning, Mr. Yudho intended to uplift the spiritual fervor of Tridharma followers and also hoped that the temple would become an icon of Surabaya City.

Mr. Istanto stressed that Sanggar Agung can be regarded as "the representation of psychological and cultural harmony conditions of indigenous communities with Tri Dharma peoples".

[4] Officially, Sanggar Agung claims that the Guan Yin statue that just stand on the east side of the temple has a height of 18 meters.

The inauguration was attended by some important persons, included some prelates like Viriyanadi Mahatera from Buddhayana Indonesia, Phrarajkhru Sivacharaya from Thailand, and Gede Anom Jala Karana Manuaba of Indonesian Hinduism.

The Maha Brahma Stupa is surrounded by park with trees and four white elephant statues of four meters high in every corner of its yard.

[2] Because Sanggar Agung is located on the sea front, this temple also become a favorite place for Chinese people to pray for their cremated family members.

[3] As an iconic temple, on September 21, 2010, Sanggar Agung held Full Moon Festival (Zhongqiujie) and invited many artist groups from other cities and other islands such as Minahasa, Bali, Solo, Ponorogo, and so on.

[citation needed] The mangrove surround the temple is a natural habitat for many wild life, such as stork, crab, sparrow, and mudskipper.

In November 9, 2004, Sanggar Agung received an award from MURI for the largest Maha Brahma (Phra Phrom) statue in Indonesia.