Google ad

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Amazing Temples in the World


  Tiger's Nest Monastery, perched precariously on the edge of a 3,000-feet-high cliff in Paro Valley , is one of the holiest places in Bhutan
 


Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Mai, Thailand is unlike any Buddhist temples in the world.
 




Prambanan is a Hindu temple in Central Java , Indonesia . The temple was built in 850 CE, and is composed of 8 main shrines and 250 surrounding smaller ones.




No one knows exactly when the Shwedagon Paya [wiki] (or Pagoda) in Myanmar was built - legend has it that it is 2,500 years old though archaeologists estimate that it was built between the 6th and 10th century.



Temple of Heaven is a
Taoist temple in Beijing, the capital of China . The temple was constructed in 14th century by Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty.



Chion-in Temple [wiki] was built in 1234 CE to honor the founder of Jodo ( Pure Land ) Buddhism, a priest named Honen, who fasted to death in the very spot.



In the 19th century, Dutch occupiers of Indonesia found a massive ancient ruin deep in the jungles of Java. What they discovered was the complex of Borobudur , a gigantic structure built with nearly 2 million cubic feet (55,000 m³) of stones. The temple has nearly 2,700 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues.
Borobudur Temple, near Magelang


The Harmandir Sahib (meaning The Abode of God) or simply the Golden Temple[wiki] in Punjab , India is the most sacred shrine of Sikhism.
 


The Temple of Srirangam (Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple [wiki]), in the Indian city of Tiruchirapalli (or Trichy), is the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world (Ankor Wat is the largest of all temple, but it is currently non-functioning as a temple - see below).



Last but definitely not least is the largest temple in history and the inspiration to countless novels and action movies of Hollywood : Angkor Wat.