23 February 2007
Swaminarayan Akshardham, New Delhi, Selected as a Wondrous Place of Worship
New Delhi
On page 4 of the Corporate Dossier section of ‘The Economic Times', Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi has been highlighted as one of the world's Wondrous Houses of Worship'. Explaining the objective in presenting this selection, the paper writes, "In our search for new wonders of the religious world, we looked for buildings unmatched in form or scale and for structures that incorporate new materials and technologies. All are active houses of worship. And all represents a modern bridge between the physical and the spiritual.” Describing Swaminarayan Akshardham, they write,

Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple
New Delhi, India, Completed 2005
Organizer: BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha

Like the thousands of temples across India, the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple has intricately carved sculptures and statues of deities. Unlike traditional Hindu temples, however, this one (on the banks of the Yamuna River and spread over 100 acres) also features a 12 minute indoor boat-ride, a light and sound show, an Imax screen, a musical Fountain, and animatronics, -characters that recount the life and philosophy of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. The site also includes three exhibition halls and two ponds. The temple’s main monument, a model of Vastu Shastra architecture, measures 141 feet in height, 316 feet in width, and 356 feet in length, and comprises 234 ornately carved pillars and more than 20,000 sculptures and statues of deities. The temple rests on a 1,070-foot long carved pink sandstone plinth featuring 148 huge elephants.
A house of worship that borrows in equal measure from the spiritual as well as from Las Vegas and Walt Disney, the temple is carved from pink sandstone and white marble - and was reportedly designed without steel supports. Seven thousand sculptors and thousands of volunteers worked round the clock to build the temple in a mere five years.

The other selected places of worship are:

• IGLESIA DE LA SANTA MARIA
  DE LAS BRISAS
  Santo Domingo, Chile
  Completed 2002
  Architect: Fernando Domeyko
  
• WATER TEMPLE
  Awajishima Island, Japan
  Completed: 1991
  Architect: Tadao Ando
  
• KING SHAH FAISAL MOSQUE
  Islamabad, Pakistan
  Completed 1986
  Architect: Vedat Dalkay
  
• PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF NEW YORK
  Sunnyside, Queens, USA
  Completed: 1997
  Architects: Garofalo Architects, Michael Mclntruf
  Architects and Greg Lynn, FORM
  
• LAKEWOOD CHURCH
  Houston, USA
  Completed 2005
  Architects: Morris Architects
  
• BETH SHOLOM SYNAGOGUE
  Elkins Park, Pa., USA
  Completed 1959
  Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright