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Daily 9am-7.30pm; free; >www.swaminarayan-babs.org. Tube: Stonebridge Park or Neasden. Perhaps the most remarkable building in the whole of London lies just off the North Circular, in the glum suburb of Neasden . Here, rising majestically above the surrounding semi-detached houses like a mirage, is the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir , a traditional Hindu temple topped with domes and shikharas, erected in 1995 in a style and scale unseen outside of India for more than a millennium. To reach the temple, you must enter through the adjacent Haveli, or cultural complex, with its carved wooden portico and balcony. After taking off your shoes, you can proceed to the Mandir (temple) itself, carved entirely out of Carrara marble, with every possible surface transformed into a honeycomb of arabesques, flowers and seated gods. Beneath the Mandir, an exhibition (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat & Sun 7am-7pm; GBP2) explains the basic tenets of Hinduism and details the life of Lord Swaminarayan, and includes a video about the history of the building.
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