Year 10 had a fantastic experience visiting the beautiful Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in Neasden as part of their PSHE curriculum. As part of the curriculum Y10 pupils are exploring different faiths, to give them a greater understanding and tolerance of people from different faiths and cultural backgrounds.
The pupils were greeted and given ‘a peaceful auspicious’ Hindu welcome into the venue. The Mandir is Europe’s first traditional Hindu temple and its beauty is truly breath taking. All the pupils watched the documentary about its construction, from 5,000 tonnes of marble, with great interest. Comprising 26,300 hand carved pieces, and assembled like a jigsaw, it took only 3 years to build. The pupils who are studying a BTEC in Construction were amazed to learn that all the foundations were laid in 3 days and that the building uses no structural steel.
Pupils were shown the Grand Haveli Foyer and the exquisite Inner Sanctum. Everyone found the “Understanding Hinduism” exhibition fascinating and the pupils particularly enjoyed the artwork, symbols and statues depicting Hindu stories they had learnt in class.
Pupils were then taken to a local restaurant for lunch. The food was delicious, with chicken biriyani and butter naan bread proving most popular.
A pupil said: ‘Walking towards the temple, it was a breathtaking sight. It is enormous and inside it is beautifully decorated, we were all made to feel so welcome.’