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Swaminarayan Mandir/Canadian Museum of Cultural Heritage of Indo-Canadians
- Thread starter Pep'rJack
- Start date
lordmandeep
Banned
it looks a 5000 year old hindu temple in india i saw, just newer.
Pep'rJack
Active Member
^ It does look like many temples found throughout northern India, mostly, but they aren't quite that old. Most of the remaining ancient temples in India were built between ~700 & ~1300 AD. I don't think there are any still in existence more than about 2000 years old. Hinduism can be traced back about 5000 years, but not the buildings.
This project really is pretty amazing, what with the use of centuries-old building techniques, the carving all being done in India, and whatnot. Curious that it's been so low-profile up until now.
This project really is pretty amazing, what with the use of centuries-old building techniques, the carving all being done in India, and whatnot. Curious that it's been so low-profile up until now.
M
MajorComplainer
Guest
Seriously, with location like that, how many people KNOW and WILL GO visit??
Junglab
New Member
The great many people of Hindu faith and/or Indian extraction in the area, no doubt... and anyone else who gets off his/her lazy ass to go there.
ShonTron
Moderator
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I drove out in that direction, and really, it's a great location for visbility from the 427, but it's a long walk from Finch, even Humberline (which has some TTC and Brampton bus service). But if that's the property they have to work with with, I won't complain.
wyliepoon
Senior Member
While casual tourists or lukewarm architecture fans might not go out of their way to see this building, I think hardcore architecture fans who want to see this building badly would do anything to try to get there.
I find myself to be somewhat in that "hardcore" category, because I like to visit architectural gems in other cities that are quite out of the way, sometimes even in dangerous neighbourhoods. I think many of you are like that too. Some of us are willing to drive or walk through a burnt-out neighbourhood in Detroit or Buffalo to check out a big abandoned railway station.
I think this Hindu temple might serve as something like the Bahai Temple in Wilmette in suburban Chicago - a gem of religious architecture that is away from downtown and its tourist traps.
I find myself to be somewhat in that "hardcore" category, because I like to visit architectural gems in other cities that are quite out of the way, sometimes even in dangerous neighbourhoods. I think many of you are like that too. Some of us are willing to drive or walk through a burnt-out neighbourhood in Detroit or Buffalo to check out a big abandoned railway station.
I think this Hindu temple might serve as something like the Bahai Temple in Wilmette in suburban Chicago - a gem of religious architecture that is away from downtown and its tourist traps.
TrickyRicky
Senior Member
40 million? Can I get a dozen or so of those Indian artisans to come work for me?
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
The museum is attached to a religious building, not an amusement park - they're gonna put it wherever the people who'll use it want to. If they put it downtown, that would automatically double the cost.
adma
Superstar
Bahai is also a bit different, in how it follows that Viollet-Le-Duc line of structural functionalism/expressionism, i.e. architects dug it for more "sophisticated" (i.e. Western-based) reasons...
Dan416
Senior Member
Pic of the temple from the Star article:
I think it's quite beautiful.
Zephyr
Active Member
Unfortunately, this reference doesn't quite fit your statements.
Since I once lived near The Bahá'à House of Worhip, I have visited it literally dozens-and-dozens of times, and have known people in this Bahá'à Faith.
First, the Bahá'à Faith is not Hinduism, nor even a remote form of it. Actually it is a nineteenth-century spin-off from another religion - Islam. Like Protestants who first broke away from Catholicism, those of the Bahá'à Faith were labeled negatively as a consequence. In their particular case, they have been especially persecuted in the country of their origin - Persia/Iran. But in brief the only point that need be made is this is not a Hindu temple.
Second, this is not off the beaten path of tourists. Tourists regularly come to this temple from all over Chicago, nearby states, other parts of that country and from other countries as well - remember, this is the North American centre for this religion. One merely has to look at their daily register or published statistics to confirm these facts.
Third, this is located in one of the most wealthy, and safe communities in North America - the ritzy hamlet on Chicago's North Shore that goes by the name of Wilmette.
Canuck
Active Member
Zephyr, I think you misread what wylie wrote.
He didn't say the Bahá'à House of Worhip is a Hindu temple, he said "I think this Hindu temple might serve as something like the Bahai Temple in Wilmette..."
Notice he only references the Bahá'à House in terms of its prominence in its area, and not as a direct comparison as 'another Hindu Temple'.
Secondly wylie did not say tourists don't visit the Bahá'à House, but rather he said, "a gem of religious architecture that is away from downtown and its tourist traps". Notice the 'Tourist Traps' part - meaning he is saying it's away from normal locations where a lot of tourists spend their time and money (i.e. the shops and famous locations located in a downtown area), however, he does not say anything about how many tourists the Bahá'à House attracts.
Zephyr
Active Member
My apologies if I misinterpretted him.
But I might want to leave this post just on implications. Someone might get the impression that this is another Hindu Temple, even if that is not the actual statement, by extention. And similarly one can branch from the statement about tourist traps to a different conclusion - namely, tourist create tourist traps, and this is off the beaten path of tourists therefore it is not a tourist trap - all logical extentions but in a different direction.
Nevertheless, if I have gotten the wrong idea, I again apologize.
Canuck
Active Member
If one was not aware of the Bahá'à faith I can see why one would think it was an offshoot Hinduism, however I don't believe wylie meant his comment as such.
Also as for the tourist comment, if one were naive enough to believe people only visit the 'tourist traps' in the downtown area, then I can see the logical extension being no one would visit the Bahá'à house, however I don't get that from wylie's comment. I took the comment as I think wylie meant it - which is to compare the two religious buildings based upon their proximity to the central core and the tourist areas located there.