Smaller than its neighbouring Hindu temple a few miles away in Neasden, the Shree Sanatan Mandir is a fairly recent addition to London’s religious buildings, opening in 2010.
This building is constructed entirely from Indian limestone, and cost £16m to build. The temple complex isn’t quite finished either – a lodge building near the entrance was still covered in scaffolding when we visited yesterday. You should note that this Hindu temple isn’t dedicated to any particular god or goddess in the religion’s pantheon – they welcome Hindus from every sect, and of course the building is open to everyone in the local community. Uniquely, the building doesn’t just contain carvings of Hindu deities – you’ll find important from other religions too, including Mother Teresa and Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.
The Shree Sanatan Mandir is a spectacular building, and its quite a surprise to come across it given its rather modest surroundings of terraced housing and shops – I don’t know what you think but I really love the warmth of its yellow/orange coloured stone – you’ll find all of the photographs that I took today in this online album.
February 26, 2012
London Sights