White palace in thailand. White temple in chiang rai

white temple in Thailand - the most unusual temple that I have ever seen.

White Temple - Wat Rong Khun located in the North of Thailand, next to. Many people who have seen a photo of this magnificent temple on the Internet travel to the North of Thailand just to visit this unusual White Temple.

Wat Rong Khun - at all new temple, the construction of which began in 1997 and continues to this day. The temple looks like an ice house (it would have been to the taste of the Snow Queen from a fairy tale 🙂 or like a sugar palace and it is not entirely clear what it is made of. Wat Rong Khun is completely white, which is why it is most often called the White Temple.

It is being built by a Thai artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat, with his own money from the sale of paintings. The artist refused sponsors, he does not want anyone to dictate any conditions to him, he wants to do everything in the temple the way only he wants.

They say that the best time to visit the White Temple is at dawn or sunset, when the white color is beautifully reflected in the sun.

We spent the night in, slept in the morning, had breakfast at our Baan Bua Guest House hotel and arrived at the White Temple only at 10 am. Were not pleasantly surprised by the number of people near the temple.

For the first time in our entire trip to the North of Thailand, we saw so many sightseeing buses in the parking lot. We had a hard time finding a spot on the side of the road to park our little car!

Yes, Wat Rong Khun is amazing. This is the most unusual and non-traditional Buddhist temple. It is made of white material, which symbolizes the purity of the Buddha and of mirror inserts, which symbolize the wisdom of the Buddha.


Around the temple is a lake with fish. You can feed them by buying food nearby.
There was a queue at the temple. I had to wait a while to get to the bridge, through which you have to go through to get into the White Temple itself.

Before entering the bridge to get to Paradise 🙂

The bridge says that in order to get to Paradise (to the White Temple), one must pass from ordinary worldly life through Hell on the bridge. And thousands of hands of sinners stretch out from Hell. I'll tell you the sight is not very pleasant.

In general, of course, the temple is interesting and beautiful, but it did not leave pleasant emotions for me. Rather the opposite. You don’t feel the energy here, you don’t want to stay here for a long time, like in a temple on a mountain in Chiang Dao.

Before entering Wat Rong Khun, take off your shoes. You can’t take pictures inside, so I’ll describe it in words: inside the temple is almost empty. Only in the center is the mummy of a monk (we still didn’t understand if it was a mummy or just a doll?). The walls are painted with the author's works of the artist. On the walls are scenes from the films "The Matrix", "Avatar", "Star Wars". The event of September 11 is also displayed here. The work on painting the walls of the temple continues to this day.

We leave the White Temple and go to inspect the territory. In total, 9 snow-white fabulous buildings are planned on the territory. And now there are many interesting sculptures on the territory.

Dragon spewing water 🙂

On the territory there is a well where you can throw coins and make wishes. If you get to the center of the well, the wish will come true!

You can write a wish on a special leaf and hang it on a tree. There are several such trees on the territory of the temple.
You can sign a memory card and put the seal of the White Temple!
On the territory you can sit down to relax in the shade of trees

funny signs indicating that drinking and smoking is evil!

Nearby in the building we bought souvenirs, magnets. Here you can also get acquainted with the paintings of the artist Chalermchai Kositpipat and even buy them.

And on the territory there is such a golden building. What do you think it is? 😎

No, this is not a Buddha palace, this is a toilet 😎 Before entering, you need to take off your shoes and put on changeable shoes.

Watch a short video we shot near the White Temple in Thailand

How to get to Wat Rong Khun:

• on your own transport: from Chiang Rai you need to go south, towards Chiang Mai for about 13 km.
• by minibus from Chiang Rai for 20 baht (depart from the city center, from the old bus station)
• by bus Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai. Ask to be dropped off near the White Temple.

Opening hours of the White Temple:

The entrance to the temple is open from 7:00 to 17:00 in the low season, and in the high season (November-February) until 18:00. But you can admire Wat Rong Khun at any time of the day or night 🙂

There are quite a few interesting sights in Thailand, and one of these places is the White Temple or Wat Rong Khun. It is even difficult to call this temple a temple; rather, it is a work of art that enchants with its beauty. It seems that you are in a fairy tale and there is a snow castle in front of you. The temple is located a few kilometers from Chiang Rai, so if you are in these places, be sure to visit the White Temple in Thailand.

The construction of the temple began relatively recently in 1997 and continues to this day. The idea of ​​the White Temple, as well as the temple itself, belong to the talented artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. The magical building is his dream come true. Funds for building temple complex, the artist has been collecting for 20 years. He does not want anyone to dictate his own rules for the construction of the temple, so he does not take money from sponsors. Even the chief engineer is his brother. Chalermchayu Kositpipat is confident that thanks to the White Temple, his memory will live on for many years to come.

Temple grounds

The territory of the temple is well-groomed and well-equipped. There is a beautiful pond in which fish swim, as well as many fountains and sculptures of mythological creatures. Among all this beauty, it's nice to sit on a bench and take great photos.

There are currently three buildings on the temple grounds: the White Temple, an art gallery, and a golden structure that looks like a small palace, which is actually a public toilet. I would never have thought that an ordinary toilet could be so beautiful.

The owner plans to build 6 more buildings. The construction of some of them has already begun.

Near the temple complex there is a souvenir shop where you can buy magnets, postcards and more. There is also a cafe where you can have a bite to eat.

The main building is the White Temple, which symbolizes Paradise, and to get into it you need to go through the mundane world full of temptations, and then through Hell with the outstretched hands of sinners and the fangs of Rahu (the mythical snake demon). And only then you get to the bridge, which symbolizes the road to enlightenment, and leads to the temple.

The hands of sinners
bridge of enlightenment

What's inside the temple?

At the entrance to the White Temple, there are signs that say that it is forbidden to take pictures inside the building. But despite this, there are quite a lot of photos on the Internet.

Getting into the temple, you understand that it is half empty: only a statue of a monk sitting alone and painted walls around. All drawings are created by the owner of the temple and symbolize the constant war between good and evil. Here you can see various characters fighting for good: Superman, Batman, Avatar, Terminator, heroes from the Matrix and many others. Also on the walls are twin towers, rockets, weapons, spaceships. Over time, new paintings appear and many of them reflect our modern life.

How to get there?

The easiest way to get to the White Temple is from Chiang Rai, for this you need to drive in the direction of Chiang Mai for about 12 km. There will be a sign on the road next to the White Temple, as well as many buses and cars, so it is difficult to miss this place. Even from Chiang Rai to the White Temple can be reached by minibus from the old bus station.

See the exact location of the White Temple on the map.

Schedule

The temple is open during daylight hours seven days a week, admission is free.

As in any other Buddhist temple, dress appropriately: knees and shoulders must be covered. If necessary, at the entrance you will be given pants, a skirt or a scarf.

The White Temple in Thailand impresses with its unusual beauty and many tourists come here from different countries. This place is definitely included in.

Wat Rong Khun is not a temple at all in the standard sense of the word. There are no monks here. They don't come here to pray. It would be more correct to call Rong Khun an art object that assimilated the multifaceted nature of the modern world on a Buddhist basis. Despite the fact that the temple is not canonical, its symbolism for a Westerner is more understandable than the meaning of traditional temples in Thailand.

If you are interested in modern art, then this temple (it is called "white") should be visited. You will be able to see an eclectic fusion of Buddhism, traditional Thai architecture, pop art and science fiction.

Temple history

Thailand has a huge number of traditional Buddhist temples. All of them form the core of Thai culture and are included in the excursion program of any tourist. Old temples have their undoubted advantages: they are all places of worship, in which the walls and the earth breathe history. But the world is changing. Just like the people who inhabit the earth. Modern people it is difficult to understand the meaning of Buddhism by visiting old temples. They need to show Buddhist ideas more visually.

Chalermchai Kositpipat, a millionaire Thai artist, argued something like this. He proposed to reconstruct Wat Rong Khun Temple, which was in a deplorable state near his hometown of Chiang Rai. Permission has been granted. The artist was given the territory of a dilapidated temple complex. In 1997, at his own expense, he began to implement a grandiose architectural and artistic project.

For two decades, a group of artists led by Kositpipat has been working on a unique architectural complex. During this time it was visited by more than 5 million people. Considering that the white temple in Thailand is located almost at the Burmese border, not in the very tourist area of ​​the country, far from Chiang Rai, then this figure is more than telling.

The work is planned to continue until 2070. It costs a lot of money. The Thai government does not provide funds. Symbolic money is earned through the sale of souvenirs with the image of the temple and its ideological inspirer, as well as in the form of donations from visitors and individuals.

Here is what Chalermchai Kositpipat himself says: “Money and things are worthless. They are not mine. They only allow me to act in accordance with my beliefs.”

Symbolism of the temple

Every detail of the temple complex has its own meaning and allows visitors to see the Buddhist teachings. Everything here is designed to turn a person’s attention to ordinary surrounding things: to take a different look at worldly temptations depicted in bizarre figures, to focus on consciousness, and not on material things.

Symbolism of color

In the external design are mainly used:

• high-strength white alabaster (gypsum);
• small pieces of mirrors.

Mirror fragments are superimposed on an alabaster base. Thanks to this, the temple complex shimmers in the sun's rays so much that sometimes you want to look away. With the help of this technique, the artist not only showed the purity of the mind of the Buddha and the superiority spiritual world over the material. The light shining in the mirrors symbolizes the ability of any person to reflect the kindness of other people.

Although white color prevails in the design of the temple grounds, it is not the only color used. There are many gilded, red, green and other colors outside the temple. They symbolize worldly existence, human vices. Here, hideous-looking sculptures, hanging heads, skeletons and demons holding cigarette packs and replicas of alcohol bottles await.

The concept of the complex is such that first visitors see art objects related to worldly life. And only after that, guests can enter the territory of the white temple. Thus, the artist makes you feel the difference between the consciousness of an ordinary person and the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Pond

Like many other temples in Thailand, Rong Khun is surrounded by a pond in which several dozen large fish live. It is customary to feed them: for a fee, you can buy special food. It is impressive and liked by both adults and children.

Wat Rong Khun itself includes several installation objects that visitors pass on their way to the temple. This:

• hell pit
• Gateway to heaven

hell pit

Hundreds of human hands sticking out of the pit under their feet on both sides of the road symbolize desires and passions. Overcoming them, according to the Buddhist concept, means the path to happiness. The twisted faces of the demons follow the incoming gaze and check how ready everyone is for purification.

Several hands emerging from the pit are holding iron pots into which passers-by throw coins. They say that this is an effective way to say goodbye to your sins and start a new life.

Bridge over the wheel of rebirth

The concentric circle under the bridge and two large stylized horns sticking out of the ground symbolize the transition from a cycle of uninterrupted rebirths to a free state without suffering.

According to the third truth of Buddhism, this is achieved only by giving up desires.

Gateway to heaven

Having given up all their desires, visitors find themselves in front of the gates to paradise. They are guarded by statues: on the left - Rahu (those in whose power is the fate of a person) and on the right - Death (those in whose power is a person's life).

The bridge ends with a temple, in front of which visitors see sculptures of a meditating Buddha. This creates an additional mood before entering the temple.

Buddha's abode

Externally, the temple is made in strict accordance with Buddhist architectural canons. The work on the inside has not been completed. It seems that Chalermchai Kositpipat is waiting for some miracle or sign. In the meantime, the walls inside are painted in such a way that even the local residents of Thailand are surprised.

Let's not reveal the secrets of the temple. But let's say that, although the images are far from canonical, they fit perfectly into the system of the Buddhist worldview, which is limitless and capable of conjugating any manifestations of a diverse reality.

golden house

In contrast to the white abode of the Buddha, the golden house is the center of worldly life. Here are located:

• small gallery;
• hall for sermons and prayers;
• "golden public toilet".

Again, on a symbolic level, the golden house is intended to contrast with the white temple, emphasizing the difference between worldly vanity and enlightened true awareness.

The golden color is designed to draw people's attention to how much attention they pay to money and worldly things, forgetting about the most important thing.

A park

After visiting the monastery, guests can walk in the park, relax on benches in the shade of trees, and study sculptures. There is a small cafe with snacks and drinks, a souvenir shop.

Working hours

The temple complex is open for visiting from 8.00 to 18.00. The gallery in the golden house closes at 17.30. Free admission. On weekends and holidays it can be crowded: Thais love to come here on excursions.

Despite the fact that Rong Khun is an inactive temple, it is still a religious site. When visiting, you must follow the dress code and avoid too open parts of the body.

How to get there

Wat Rong Khun is located along Phahonyothin road 15 kilometers southwest of Chiang Rai. Can be reached by the following transport:

• by taxi for 300 baht ($8) -20 minutes;
• by bus for 20 baht ($0.5) - 30 minutes;
• by songteo bus for 30 baht ($0.8) - 30 minutes.

Buses and minibuses leave from the bus station near the night market in the center of Chiang Rai.

Wat Rong Khun from the province of Chiang Rai is far from the oldest and largest temple in Thailand. It does not contain great Buddhist relics. There are no crowds of pilgrims here. Strictly speaking, it's not even completed yet. However, it is one of the most recognizable temples in the country and one of the main tourist attractions in the northern part of the kingdom.

Among travelers, Wat Rong Khun is better known as the "White Temple". The name, as you might guess, comes from the dazzling white color in which it is completely painted on the outside. This is unique to Thai temple architecture. color scheme is his main calling card.

Another feature that makes Wat Rong Khun stand out from the rest of Thailand's 33,000 Buddhist temples is its non-canonical iconography. Along with the traditional symbols of Buddhism, among the elements of its decor, one can be surprised to find the “stars” of Western mass culture like Neo from the movie “The Matrix”, the Schwarzenegger T-800 terminator, and even angry birds from a computer game that made a splash in the recent past.

Wat Rong Khun is the most unusual temple in Thailand.

Such an unexpected eclecticism for a religious building, as well as an unusual snow-white color, the White Temple is entirely indebted to its creator, the Thai artist Charlemchai Kositpipat.

Artist, Buddhist, philanthropist

In a sense, the eccentric Mr. Kositpipat himself is one of the features of Wat Rong Khun. He is the sole author of this project, the main creation of his life. Nothing in the White Temple is done without his knowledge; everything here, from the first to the last detail, was invented by him and built exclusively with his personal money.

The biography of Kositpipat is that rare case when one can say that the artist himself painted his own life. He was born on February 15, 1955 in one of the small Thai villages in the province of Chiang Rai. His family, which was poor even by the modest standards of the Thai wilderness, was looked down upon by fellow villagers. It was then that Charlemchai had a desire to escape from the provincial poverty of his small homeland and become rich and famous.

The passion for drawing, which had owned him since childhood, helped to do this. Deciding to become a professional artist, he left for Bangkok and entered one of the metropolitan universities.

Living in a big city, the future creator of the White Temple began to think about life paths other people, trying to understand why some artists become rich and successful, while others do not. Carefully analyzing the works of famous masters and noticing what made their creations great, he tried to apply what he found in his paintings.

The efforts were not in vain, and the work of Kositpipat himself began to be popular. By 1978, when Charlemchai graduated from university with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, he was already earning money from his paintings.

Gradually, national fame and success came to him, and he became the most famous artist of his country. Among his wealthy clients was even King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand himself. This, however, was not enough for Kositpipat. He wanted the whole world to talk about him.

This desire came true with the construction of the White Temple.

Piety and ambition

All the work of Charlemchai, starting from the first student works, has always been somehow connected with Buddhism. With age, his commitment to the Buddhist creed only grew. Therefore, when he learned that one of the old temples in his native province of Chiang Rai was completely dilapidated, and the money for its repair was local authorities No, I decided to personally take up his restoration. And at the same time turn it into the most ambitious art project of my life.

By that time, the 42-year-old Kositpipat was already an established artist and a very wealthy person who could afford to carry out construction exclusively with his own money. This allowed Charlemchai to avoid any outside influence and to embody all his ideas exactly. And there was no shortage of them.

Traditions plus the author's approach

Kositpipat started building the White Temple in 1997. He approached the matter not only creatively, as befits an artist, but also radically. From the old temple, only its former name, Wat Rong Khun, remained, and everything else was invented and rebuilt from scratch.

It must be said that the word “wat” in Thailand does not denote a separate building, but a whole temple complex. Therefore, Wat Rong Khun is correctly understood not as a single standing temple, but as a single architectural ensemble. It, according to the project, includes nine buildings. The construction and finishing of most of them are still not finished.

It is believed that work at Wat Rong Khun will continue for at least half a century.

The Wat Rong Khun temple complex includes nine buildings. Most of them are white.

The entire temple complex is a strange mixture of traditional Thai architecture and the imagination of Charlemchai Kositpipat himself. As conceived by the artist, each detail of Wat Rong Khun should carry a certain symbolic meaning and encourage temple visitors to think about Buddhism.

Thus, the white color of most of the buildings of Wat Rong Khun symbolizes the purity of Buddhist doctrine, as well as the primacy of the spiritual principle in a person over his base bodily needs. The effect of snow-whiteness is enhanced by pieces of mirrors, with which, like a mosaic, all elements of the external decor are generously laid out. They are meant to portray the sparkling wisdom of Buddhism.

The most important building and the “face” of the entire complex is the snow-white ubosot (in Thailand, this is the name given to the central structure of the wat, which houses the Buddha statue and where prayers and basic religious ceremonies are performed). It is he who attracts the most attention of tourists and flaunts on most photographs taken in Wat Rong Khun.

A magnificent bridge leads to the ubosoth, in front of which hands reach out in a semicircle from under the ground in silent despair. They symbolize the vain pursuit of a person for momentary pleasures and attempts to quench unquenchable passions. All this, according to Buddhist ideas, gives rise to suffering, which can be eliminated only by renouncing earthly attachments and desires. Only then does a person begin his spiritual growth and get a chance to gain nirvana - the ultimate goal of Buddhism.

Hands outstretched as a symbol of earthly passions and desires.

Bypassing earthly passions and vices, the visitor begins to climb the bridge leading to the ubosot. Passage along it is a symbol of overcoming samsara, the cycle of earthly rebirths, and its top point is the sacred Mount Meru, the mythical center of the Buddhist universe. In accordance with the mythology, in which the mountain is surrounded by sea waters, a small pond is broken under the bridge.

After crossing the bridge, tourists find themselves in front of the entrance to the ubosot. Its three roof levels, traditional for the Buddhist temple architecture of Thailand, symbolize wisdom, concentration and religious precepts. The decoration of the temple, thought out to the smallest detail, is striking.

Inside, the ubosot is decorated with wall paintings made in the author's style of Charlemchai Kositpipat, for which he had previously been criticized by traditionalists.

In 1988-1992, he and another artist painted the walls of the first Thai Buddhist wat in the UK called Buddhapadipa (located in Wimbledon, a southwestern suburb of London). Then with them light hand Margaret Thatcher and Mother Teresa appeared on the walls of the temple among the scenes of Buddhist myths, as well as images of the authors themselves.

Not everyone liked the innovative approach, and at first the experimenters were criticized a lot - from the Thai government to other Thai artists and the monks themselves. But gradually the passions subsided, and they got used to the "unformatted" frescoes.

Several years passed, and when designing Wat Rong Khuna, Kositpipat once again decided to give free rein to his imagination. And this time he sent the canons of Buddhist iconography on an even more unrestrained creative flight. Along with the usual images and techniques of temple painting, Charlemchai as the personification of vices modern society used Western characters mass culture. Therefore, on the inner walls of the ubosoth, you can see, for example, Freddy Krueger, the Alien and the terrorist attack on the New York twin towers, as well as, for some reason, Harry Potter and Spiderman.

All covered in gold, absolutely all... the toilet of Wat Rong Khun.

Another non-standard creative move of Charlemchai is a large, luxuriously finished and generously gilded ... toilet. According to the author's idea, such a deliberately chic design of a banal toilet should show the futility of a person's pursuit of material wealth and excessive passion for perishable values ​​to the detriment of spiritual development.

Black Day of the White Temple

Starting the construction of the White Temple, Charlemchai Kositpipat was full of enthusiasm and determination to complete it at all costs. However, there was a moment when he almost gave up everything, almost putting an end to the history of Wat Rong Khun.

The artist's hands fell on May 5, 2014, when at 18:08 local time the temple was seriously damaged by an earthquake of magnitude 6.3. Costpipat, who by then had spent almost 20 years of his life and over 40 million Thai baht of personal money on its construction, was close to despair.

After the first examination of the damage received, a dejected Charlemchai told the press that he would not restore the temple, and all its buildings would be demolished for safety reasons. However, immediately after that, words of support from all over the world rained down on him. He received hundreds of phone calls. People urged him not to leave the White Temple, which, in their opinion, had already become the artistic heritage of the whole world.

Assistance was also offered by the Thai government, which immediately sent a team of engineers to Wat Rong Khun to assess the extent of the damage. Their verdict was more than encouraging: the supporting structures and foundations did not suffer critical damage, and the buildings of the temple complex could be restored.

In addition, they promised to help with working hands Armed forces and universities in the country. Many individuals and organizations also expressed their readiness to provide assistance.

Bridge in front of the ubosot. Visible mirror mosaic.

Encouraged by the conclusions of the commission and flattered by the support received, Mr. Kositpipat immediately perked up. On the morning of May 7, he promised that he would restore the White Temple in the next two years, and some buildings would be reopened to tourists the very next day. In addition, the artist explained his first statement about the closure of the temple as a deliberate step. So he allegedly wanted to check whether his work was really important to people and the state.

Currently, work at Wat Rong Khun is ongoing. The author of the project is determined to restore exactly all the wall paintings and decor elements destroyed by the earthquake. In the meantime, due to restoration measures, tourists are temporarily prohibited from taking photos inside the temple.

Wat Rong Khun temple complex is located 13 kilometers southwest of Chiang Rai city. A taxi ride to him will take about twenty minutes and will cost 250 - 300 baht. Public transport (minibus) will cost much less (20 baht), while the travel time will hardly increase and will be about half an hour.

Clothing for visiting the temple should be chosen appropriately. It shouldn't be too open. Bare legs will be especially reprehensible.

Wat Rong Khun is open daily and admission is free. You can support the construction by making a donation, but it should not exceed 10,000 baht, as the artist does not want to fall under the influence of wealthy sponsors. An analogue of a donation will be the purchase of one of the author's paintings by Charlemchai Kositpipat, which are sold in the gallery at the temple.

In general, Wat Rong Khun is very popular with foreign tourists who are brought here by whole buses. Therefore, it is usually quite crowded here. There are also many Thais, but they mostly come on weekends or on holidays.

In the afternoon, when tourists leave, there are much fewer people.

Golden cage for Rajput aristocrats

The history of the emergence of one of the main architectural masterpieces of North India - Jaipur's Hawa Mahal Palace - began long before its actual construction in 1799. Like others cultural characteristics region, this building is the result of many centuries of confrontation and difficult convergence of Hindu and Islamic traditions. In this sense, Hawa Mahal goes back to the events that began in the 8th century, when Northern India first faced the threat of Muslim expansion.

As you know, at its initial stages, the Indians were lucky. For a long time they managed to successfully repel all the attempts of the newcomers to gain a foothold east of the Indus. However, from the end of the 12th century, various Islamic rulers, despite desperate Indian resistance, nevertheless began to move deep into the subcontinent.

Each step was given advancing with great difficulty. The Rajputs, representatives of different ethnic groups from the varna of Kshatriya warriors, resisted the invaders especially stubbornly. Their small principalities turned out to be a tough nut to crack for Muslims and delayed the Islamic seizure of Indian lands for a long time.

View of the top two floors of Hawa Mahal from inside building.

The Rajput states of the present Indian state of Rajasthan defended their freedom for the longest time with weapons in their hands. Only the mighty Mughal empire was able to turn them into its vassals, but even under the all-powerful Mughal rule, the militant Rajputs rebelled more than once.

Cultural exchange

Despite centuries of enmity, Rajput-Mughal relations were not limited to military conflicts alone. Over the long years of coexistence, representatives of the upper classes of the Rajputs adopted some of their traditions from their overlords. In particular, women from aristocratic Rajput families eventually began to observe purdah, a custom of female seclusion, Muslim in origin. In addition, the Rajputs borrowed many features of their architecture from the Mughals.

The arcades and domes of the Hawa Mahal clearly testify to the Mughal influence on Rajput architecture.

It was as a peculiar result of these borrowings that in 1799 a remarkable monument of Indian architecture called Hawa Mahal appeared.

The main symbol of Jaipur

Hawa Mahal is located in Jaipur, the famous Pink City of India, which was founded on November 18, 1727 by Maharaja Jai ​​Singh II as the new capital of his ancient Rajput principality. Today, this noisy three millionth city is the main city of the largest Indian state - hot and deserted Rajasthan.

Jaipur owes its poetic second name to the color of the sandstone from which its historic center was built. It is here, in the heart of the old city, that the most popular attraction and symbol of Jaipur is located - the Hawa Mahal Palace.

This beautiful five-story building tapering upwards was built in 1799 by the grandson of the founder of Jaipur, Maharaja Pratap Singh. It is believed that the Hawa Mahal was erected in the form of the crown of the god Krishna, to whom the Maharaja was very devoted. The palace harmoniously combines Hindu and Mughal architectural traditions, being a true embodiment of Rajput architecture.

Like the rest of the buildings in the historic center of the city, Hawa Mahal is built of red sandstone. In addition, on the outside it is painted in soft pink, beautifully accentuated with white canvas and patterns.

The most recognizable feature of the Hawa Mahal is the special jharoka balconies that adorn each of the five floors of the building's main façade. They are elegantly decorated with decorative domed canopies and covered with openwork carved screens with tiny windows.

The "comb" of the five-story main facade of the Hawa Mahal is 15 meters high. Despite this, it has very thin walls: their thickness is only 20 centimeters.

Jharokas are one of the most characteristic features of Rajput architecture. Interestingly, with all their aesthetic merits, they were not just elements of the artistic decoration of a building, but were built with a clear practical purpose.

Life imprisonment in Rajput

As already mentioned, under the rule of the Great Mughals, the highest aristocracy of Hindu Rajputs adopted the Islamic tradition of purdah. According to her, women of noble Rajput houses were forbidden to appear in front of strangers. In essence, this meant that they were doomed to be locked up for the rest of their lives. The only "interaction" with the outside world for them came down to passive observation of urban everyday life. For this, the closed jharoka balconies characteristic of Rajput architecture were invented, which came in handy during the construction of the Hawa Mahal.

The intricately decorated outer wall of the Hawa Mahal contrasts sharply with the unpretentious appearance of its rear façade, which (like the interior of the building) is quite simple and almost devoid of decorations.

The fact is that Hawa Mahal is directly adjacent to the women's wing of the huge City Palace complex. For the aristocrats who lived there from the princely house of the Maharaja of Jaipur, it was built. Each of the women in the Hawa Mahal was assigned a small personal room, closed from prying eyes by the jharoka. Being there, the mistress of the room could quietly observe the forbidden street life of the city.

natural conditioner

Beyond the Rajput balconies interesting feature Hawa Mahal is its ability to easily pass through the outside cool air. For this, he, in fact, got his name, which translates as "Palace of the Winds."

Valuable for sultry Rajasthan, the property of self-cooling appeared at Hawa Mahal thanks to its special flat layout. Of the palace's five floors, the top three are only one room thick, allowing the wind to roam freely throughout the building. In addition, earlier the natural air conditioning system was supplemented with fountains.

The unusual palace of Hawa Mahal with its openwork jharok balconies is very popular with tourists. Jaipur is well connected to the rest of India by road and rail and has an international airport nearby, so there are always a lot of both local and foreign visitors.

Since the Hawa Mahal was a kind of iron curtain between the women of the princely house and the outside world, it has no entrance from the main facade. Everyone who had the right to enter here did so from the territory of the City Palace. Today, to get inside, you need to bypass the Hawa Mahal on the left.

The palace does not have the usual stairs to climb to the upper floors. Instead, special ramps are arranged.

Passing through the majestic entrance gate, the visitor finds himself in a spacious courtyard, surrounded on three sides by two-story buildings. On the fourth side is the Hawa Mahal itself, closing the courtyard from the east. Tourists can climb to the very top of the building and enjoy beautiful views of the city. From above, for example, the famous Jantar-Mantar observatory and the City Palace are perfectly visible.

There is also a small archaeological museum in Hawa Mahal. The miniature paintings on display here and rich exhibits like ceremonial armor will help visitors to relive images of the distant Rajput past in their imagination.

Hawa Mahal is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Best time to visit - early morning, when the Palace of the Winds looks especially stunning, exuding an orange-pink glow in the golden rays of the rising sun.

Entrance fee for adult foreigners is 50 Indian rupees; students pay twice as much. Guide services will cost 200 rupees, an audio guide in English - 110.

Quick Guide for travelers

This is the final part of the project prepared website articles about the features of ancient Egyptian temples. The previous two talked about them, as well as about. This time we will talk about the difficult fate of the temples ancient egypt, and those of them that are best preserved to this day will be briefly listed.

At the zenith of glory and power

The biographies of the ancient Egyptian "houses of god" developed differently both during the time of the pharaohs and after the time of their power remained in the distant past. Some temples fell into decay and disappeared even in the heyday of Egyptian statehood, others were destined to survive more than one foreign invasion and become silent witnesses of the final decline of the civilization that gave birth to them.

Without exception, all the Egyptian kings tried to build and maintain temples in every possible way. Each pharaoh tried to surpass his predecessors in this, since it was believed that inattention to the cult deprives him of the protection of the gods, and with it his power. Therefore, temple construction was constantly carried out in Ancient Egypt, and many important “houses of god”, having already been created, continued to acquire more and more new buildings. Even many centuries after their founding, they had new pylons, open courtyards, obelisks, statues and decoration; temples acquired regular land holdings.

At the same time, it was often necessary to sacrifice the already existing "houses of the gods", which were demolished, rebuilt, or simply used as quarries, turning them into a cheap source of building materials.

The clearest example of this is big temple Amon at Karnak. The first sanctuary in its place was built, as is believed, during the XII dynasty of the Middle Kingdom, but it became the most important temple of the country four centuries later, under the new Egyptian XVIII dynasty. After that, Karnak retained the status of the main sacred center of Egypt for more than a thousand years.

During this time, the temple was repeatedly rebuilt and expanded. Pharaoh after pharaoh enlarged the Karnak house of Amun, adding their own or altering parts already erected by their predecessors. As a result, over more than two millennia of transformation, the temple was overgrown with an incredible number of various buildings (there were as many as ten pylons alone!), and over time, about 20 smaller temples appeared within its huge temenos.

On a smaller scale, but still in a similar way, things were with the houses of other ancient Egyptian gods. Many of them have also been rebuilt and rebuilt many times, sometimes completely anew.

View of the first, second and third pylons of the famous Great Temple of Amun at Karnak. © Cartu13 | Dreamstime.com – Karnak Ruins Photo

Both in the construction of new temples and in the alteration of old ones, Egyptian rulers often used the creations of previous pharaohs as a convenient source of building stone. So, during the construction of the third pylon of the same Great Temple of Amun in Karnak, several earlier buildings belonging to Senusret I, Amenhotep I and Thutmose IV, as well as the famous Queen Hatshepsut, were dismantled and used for building materials.

In an effort to associate their name with such a charitable deed as the construction of temples, the ancient Egyptian kings not only did not shy away from destroying the works of their predecessors for this, but also did not disdain to appropriate other people's merits in this field. This usually happened when one or another pharaoh was not able to build anything significant himself, or in order to erase the memory of the deeds of some former rulers. For this, a kind of “hijacking” of already existing temples or their parts was undertaken, where, by order of the ruling pharaoh, all references to their real builders were destroyed, and the name of the “hijacker” king was prescribed instead.

By the end of the New Kingdom, this practice had become so widespread that the pharaohs, when building temples, had to cut cartouches with hieroglyphs of their names a good dozen centimeters deep, hoping that this would make it impossible for the next kings to use their merit.

Cartouche with the throne name of Ramesses III in his memorial temple in Medinet Habu. Hoping to stop the usurpation of his temples by subsequent rulers, Ramesses III ordered inscriptions on their walls and columns in very deep relief, often to a depth of more than 10 centimeters.

However, not only pharaohs-losers "interrupted numbers" on other people's monuments of architecture. Even the greatest builder of Ancient Egypt, Ramses II, did not hesitate to do so, having built many of his own outstanding temples.

In general, until the end of the New Kingdom total number ancient Egyptian "houses of god" has steadily grown. Of course, there were also cases when, for one reason or another, some of them fell into disrepair and disappeared. For example, many temples were destroyed by the forces of nature: groundwater, Nile floods and earthquakes. However, in general, favored by the attention of the pharaohs and having large material resources, the temples prospered.

Radical changes in the fate of the "houses of God" came with the end of Egyptian independence.

Twilight of the Ancient Egyptian Gods

After the fall of the New Kingdom, ancient Egypt fell on hard times. From the 11th century B.C. e. Egyptian history has become a series of turmoil, fragmentation and foreign domination, punctuated only occasionally by short bursts of independence and national unity.

The vicissitudes of this turbulent period could not but be reflected in the Egyptian temples. Thus, many "houses of God" were destroyed during the Assyrian and second Persian invasions. The Egyptians managed to partially compensate for these losses in the era of the Sais Renaissance and the efforts of the pharaoh of the XXX dynasty Nectanebo I. Later, intensive temple construction was also carried out under the Ptolemies and the Romans, that is, after Egypt finally lost its independence. However, the days of the greatness of the ancient Egyptian temples were already numbered.

With the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire in the 4th century AD. e. the pagan sanctuaries of Egypt were outlawed. They were defiled by Christian fanatic vandals, they were closed by imperial decrees, used as quarries.

Temples built of limestone were especially hard hit (most of the "houses of god" north of Luxor were such; south, temples were usually built of sandstone). In the 5th century, their destruction on an unprecedented scale unfolded: the limestone of ancient Egyptian monuments was burned into lime, which was used for the construction needs of the new regime. In addition, many temples were converted into churches.

The last functioning Egyptian "house of the god" was believed to be the temple of Isis on the island of Philae. It was forcibly closed by a Byzantine military expedition under the command of the eunuch commander Narses around 535 AD. e.

Of course, Islam, which came to the country in the 7th century, did not bring any good news to the Egyptian temples. The destruction of temples continued, but instead of churches, mosques were now being built in them.

During the Byzantine period, several churches were built on the territory of the Luxor Temple of Amun. In the 13th century, they were replaced by a mosque, which still functions today.

The number of ancient Egyptian temples declined even after the advent of modern Egyptology and interest in the history of ancient Egypt. So, already at the beginning of the 19th century, during the industrialization undertaken by the Egyptian Pasha Muhammad Ali, a campaign was again launched to burn the surviving "houses of God" to lime, which ruined many beautiful monuments of ancient Egyptian architecture.

As a result, to date, in Egypt, in more or less complete form, you can see only a small part of the former splendor of its ancient temple architecture. Basically, these are those "houses of the gods" that were located far from the Nile and densely populated places. There they were protected from destruction by people (especially if they were covered with sand) and the destructive floods of the great river. It is these temples that today represent the best preserved examples of the religious architecture of Ancient Egypt.

The most famous ancient Egyptian temples

In conclusion - a short annotated list of the most famous and best preserved ancient Egyptian temples. Each of them is a unique example of the architectural heritage of the country of the pharaohs and is worth visiting.

The list contains not only the "houses of the gods", but also the so-called "houses of millions of years" - memorial temples built by the pharaohs for the eternal administration of their funeral cult. Despite the fact that, contrary to the aspirations of their deified creators, services in such temples usually stopped shortly after the death of the pharaohs who built them, some of them are well preserved. During the period of the New Kingdom, "houses of millions of years" were built, as a rule, on the model of "houses of God."

From the times ancient kingdom only a few poorly preserved temples survived. The most famous and best preserved of them is the monumental granite temple of pharaoh Khafre, which was once part of the funerary complex of buildings at his pyramid in Giza.

The temples of the Middle Egyptian period have practically not been preserved. The most significant of the remaining memorial temple of the XI dynasty pharaoh Mentuhotep II in Deir el-Bahri. Its ruins are located side by side with famous temple Queen Hatshepsut, for whom he served as an architectural model.

To the left of the world-famous temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri is the poorly preserved and much older memorial temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II. It was his unusual layout that was taken as a basis by the architects of the famous New Egyptian ruler.

Another example of Middle Egyptian temples is the so-called " white chapel”, a small elegant temple of Pharaoh Senusret I, built by him in Thebes in honor of the 30th anniversary of his reign. In the era of the New Kingdom, the chapel was dismantled for building materials and restored by archaeologists in the 20th century.

Incomparably more Egyptian temples have survived from the era of the New Kingdom. The most famous and outstanding of them is the huge Karnak temple complex in the capital of the New Egyptian state of Thebes (now Luxor). With an area of ​​more than 100 hectares, it is the second largest (after the famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia) temple complex in the world. Its main "house of the god" is the Great Temple of Amun with a colossal hypostyle hall and ten pylons. In addition to him, the Karnak temple complex also includes the temples of the wife of Amon, the goddess Mut and their son Khonsu, as well as numerous sanctuaries of other deities and pharaohs.

Near Karnak is closely related Luxor Temple of Amun. This is the southernmost of the "houses of god" on the eastern shore of the ancient Egyptian capital. It has one and a half thousand years of continuous construction - starting from the reign of the pharaohs of the XVIII dynasty and ending with the era of the Christianization of the Roman Empire.

Many remarkable monuments of Egyptian temple architecture are located on the western coast of Thebes. Here, not far from the Valley of the Kings, where the pharaohs of the New Kingdom arranged their tombs, their funeral temples were also erected, of which three are the most famous.

First, this memorial temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahri. Lying in ruins at the start of excavations in 1891, today this magnificent temple has been carefully restored and is a true masterpiece of ancient Egyptian temple architecture. It belongs to a kind of rocky variety of "houses of millions of years."

Not far to the south of it, in a place called Gurna, there is a rather poorly preserved memorial temple of Ramesses II. With the light hand of Champollion, who visited the temple in 1829, he is also known as Ramesseum. Once it was an impressive structure even by the standards of Ramesses II, but over the past millennia, it has suffered significant damage.

Unfortunately, the memorial temple of the great Ramesses II in Gurna (also known as the Ramesseum) is rather poorly preserved.

Southwest of the Ramesseum is memorial temple of RamessesIII at Medinet Habu- one of the most impressive religious buildings of ancient Egypt. The building of this temple for the most part escaped destruction (except for the destruction of temple statues and other similar “little things” by Christian vandals) and was perfectly preserved.

In addition to this famous trinity, in the Theban necropolis there is another remarkable "house of millions of years" - memorial temple of SetiI in Qurna. Located near the Ramesseum and badly damaged, it is almost unknown to tourists today. However, this temple was once very important - it was here that the statue of the god Amun made its first stop when it was transported to the west bank of the Nile during the Beautiful Festival of the Valley.

Much better preserved (and therefore more popular with travelers) mortuary temple of Seti I at Abydos. It was dedicated to Osiris, Isis and Pharaoh Seti I himself, during whose lifetime the temple was never completed. The construction had to be completed by his son, the famous Ramesses II. One of the main features of this temple is the so-called Abydos King List - a list of all the pharaohs who ruled in Egypt, from the legendary Mendes to Seti I, carved on its walls.

Magnificent monuments of New Egyptian architecture are rock memorial temples of Ramses II and Nefertari in Abu Simbel. They are located in the south of modern Egypt, in historical Nubia, and are famous not only for their outstanding artistic merit, but also for their recent history of salvation.

Due to the construction of the Aswan Dam, which began in 1960, the temples in Abu Simbel (like many other archaeological sites in southern Egypt) were in the zone of future flooding. In 1964 - 1968, both the large and small (pictured) temples of Abu Simbel were cut into blocks and moved to a higher place.

The best-preserved Egyptian temples date back to the last millennium of the existence of Ancient Egypt - the Greco-Roman period of its history (IV century BC - VI century AD).

One of them is located 60 km north of Luxor Temple of Hathor in Dendera. It is unusual in that it does not have a pylon. But he has two (and, moreover, unique) mammisia at once. The first was built by Pharaoh Nectaneb I and is the oldest "birth house" that has come down to our time. The second, the most developed from an architectural point of view of all known temples of this kind, dates back to Roman times.

The same goddess as in Dendera is dedicated to the one built in the 3rd century BC. e. Temple of Hathor in Deir el-Medina. It is quite small, but it has been preserved relatively untouched, including the temple fence made of raw brick.

One of the latest ancient Egyptian "houses of god" - temple of Khnum in Esna- located 55 km south of Luxor. It began to be built under Ptolemy VI, and the Romans had to finish the work. Today it is located right in the middle of the modern city. Of the entire temple, only the hypostyle hall remained, but it is in good condition.

Further south, halfway between Luxor and Aswan is Temple of Horus at Edfu. Today it is the best preserved Egyptian "house of god", and therefore it is very popular with tourists. The temple was built for 180 years, from 237 to 57 BC. e., and was completed by Ptolemy XII, father of the famous Queen Cleopatra. The oldest element of the temple is a four-meter granite naos of Pharaoh Nectaneb II, which went to the current Ptolemaic sanctuary from the earlier "house of god" that stood on this site.

Further south is a unique "double" Temple of Sebek and Horus the Elder in Kom Ombo. It is curious in that it has an unusual “mirror” plan: the temple is divided into two absolutely identical halves, the first of which is dedicated to the crocodile-headed god Sebek, and the second to one of the incarnations of the ancient egyptian god Hora.

Several temples were once located on the island of Elephantine, strategically located near the ancient southern border of Egypt (opposite modern Aswan). Two of them - the small temples of Thutmose III and Amenhotep III - remained virtually untouched until early XIX century. Unfortunately, in 1822 they were barbarously destroyed by order of the local authorities (they were burnt to lime). Today, only the granite gates of the Hellenistic period from temple of the god Khnum. Also on the island, archaeologists partially restored Temple of the Goddess Satet(the wife of Khnum), which had the largest nilometer in Egypt, which was used until the 19th century.

Unlike Elephantine, where the oldest archaeological finds date back to the early dynastic period, the temples on the island of Philae, located a little to the south, appeared relatively late. It became an important religious center only during the reign of the Ptolemies. The well-preserved Temple of Isis on the island of Philae, which is considered the most beautiful of all the existing Egyptian "houses of god".

The first pylon and entrance to the temple of Isis on the island of Philae.

Climbing the Nile even further south, you can see Temple of Mandulis at Kalabsha. Dedicated to the local Nubian deity, whom the Egyptians identified with their Horus, it was built during the reign of the last Ptolemies and completed under Emperor Augustus. Originally, the temple was located on the banks of the Nile in a place called Bab el-Kalabsha, 50 km south of the current Aswan Dam. In 1962 - 1963, it was disassembled into 13 thousand parts and then transported and recreated in a new place - the island of New Kalabsha.

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that as a result of the grandiose international campaign of 1959-1980 to save the architectural monuments of Nubia from flooding, four small ancient Egyptian temples ended up outside of Egypt. In gratitude for their help in archaeological work, they were donated to Spain ( temple of Amun from Debod, now stands in Madrid), the Netherlands ( Temple of Emperor Octavian Augustus of Taffa, now in the Leiden State Museum of Antiquities), USA ( Temple of Isis from Dendur, now in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Italy ( rock temple of Thutmose III from Ellesia, which was transferred to the Egyptian Museum of Turin).

It is impossible to overestimate the degree of luck that it took for all the temples listed above to survive to this day. Over the past millennia, they were lucky enough to survive many natural adversities and foreign invasions. But what is most surprising is that they somehow miraculously passed the long centuries of religious intolerance, which, like the sword of Damocles, hung over them ever since the voices of the priests were forever silenced in them and the smoke of the last incense melted away.

Fortunately, now for the first time in almost two thousand years, the temples of Ancient Egypt are beyond the threat of destruction. They are internationally recognized as an integral part of the cultural treasury of mankind. Many ancient Egyptian temples are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Of course, solemn services within their walls have sunk into oblivion forever. The old ceremonies were replaced by noisy tourist fuss, and the only obligatory rituals were camera and souvenir chores. But even now, wandering through the pillared halls and porticos of the ancient Egyptian "houses of God", you can still catch an echo of their former purpose. As before, they proudly look at the human chaos reigning around them, and in spite of everything they continue to remain strongholds of maat - the eternal order of the universe.