BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham

Swaminarayan Akshardham in Robbinsville, New Jersey, roughly midway between New York and Philadelphia, is the largest Hindu temple in the Western Hemisphere and, by its builders' account, the second-largest in the world. Built by BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, a Hindu denomination with deep roots in Gujarat, India, the central mandir stands 191 feet high and 345 feet wide and is clad in hand-carved stone: limestone from Bulgaria and Turkey outside, marble from Greece, Turkey and Italy within, and sandstone and granite from India.

Construction of the main mandir began in 2015, with much of its stone carved in India and assembled on site, and the complex was consecrated in October 2023 at the end of a nine-day festival. Inside, thousands of carvings depict deities, sages and scenes from Hindu scripture, and the grounds include a smaller traditional temple, reflecting pools and gardens. Open to visitors of every background, Akshardham has quickly become a destination for the large Indian American community of the Northeast.

• New Jersey
  The Garden State, densely settled between two cities located in
• Hsi Lai Temple
  A Taiwanese Buddhist monastery in the Los Angeles hills related