Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Traveling Temple: China to Chicago to Stockholm



Some time ago, we chronicled the first Tibetan temple in America: the so called Bendix Temple, built in China, in 1930 for Chicago's Century of Progress.

Now, we have new information about this unusual temple. It seems that it has left our shores, and traveled to Sweden, where they hope to erect it near Stockholm. The man behind this is Max Woeler, and there is a site detailing his efforts.

I am so very pleased that this temple, which languished in storage at Oberlin College for 50 years, and Sweden for 20 years, will now see its 20,000 pieces reassembled. According to the Woeler site, noted above, it has now been largely restored. You know, when you read the story, you are left with the unmistakable impression that Oberlin really screwed this up.

See also here  for more information.

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2 reader comments:

Cliff said...

What a boon to the area it would have been if this temple had been reassembled in Oberlin. Oh well! I am only about an hour away from Oberlin...

Don Croner said...

See photos of the Golden Pavilion in Putuozhongcheng Temple, located in Chengde (Jehol), China. The so-called Bendix Temple is an exact replica of the Golden Pavilion. As you probably know, the Putuozhongcheng Temple was itself modeled on the Potala in Lhasa. It was dedicated in part to the Return of the Kalmyks to China in 1771.