The United States is set to get its largest temple next month. The BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham, located 90 km south of Times Square in New Jersey, will be formally inaugurated on October 8.
The 183-acre temple took nearly 12 years to be built and its construction involved over 12,500 volunteers from across the US.
Located in New Jersey's Robbinsville Township, the temple is possibly the second largest after Angkor Wat in Cambodia, a UNESCO World Heritage site spanning across 500 acres.
The Akshardham temple in Delhi is spread over 100 acres.
The Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in US has been designed as per the ancient Indian culture. There are over 10,000 statues and carvings of Indian musical instruments and dance forms at the temple.
Besides a main shrine, the temple has 12 sub-shrines, nine shikhars (spire-like structures), and nine pyramidal shikhars. It also has the largest elliptical dome of traditional stone architecture.
Nearly two million cubic feet of stone, including limestone, granite, pink sandstone and marble, was used for its construction. They were sourced from different parts of the world, including India, Turkey, Greece, Italy and China.
At the temple, a traditional Indian stepwell called the 'Brahma Kund' has the water from over 300 waters bodies across the world.
The temple will open for visitors from October 18.
