Most beautiful temples of Belarus

I am originally from Belarus so today's post is again about my home country. I have already written about temples of Minsk and about St.Sophia Cathedral of Polotsk. And today's post is about the most beautiful temples of Belarus. What is interesting, most of these temples are situated in small towns or even villages.

photos courtesy Ivan Tsyrkunovich

St.Trinity Church, Gervyaty village, Grodno province. The church was built in 1899-1903 instead of the wooden one of 1526 that had been at the place before. This church is considered the most beautiful temple of Belarus. More than 61 m in height and being the tallest temple in the country, this church with its complex framework structure is a really breath-taking sight.

Beautiful Christian temples of Minsk

In Belarus there are two major branches of Christianity - Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. So, in the streets of the capital of the country, Minsk, one can find temples of these both Churches.
The main temple of the Orthodox Church is the Holy Spirit Cathedral. It dates from the 17th century. The layout of the building is a three-nave basilica. The main and the medium naves are higher than the side ones and have their own window configuration. The relics sacred for the Orthodoxy are placed in this cathedral. Among them is the icon of the Blessed Virgin of Minsk.

Kirtipur, the defeated kingdom

Not far away from Kathmandu (just 5 km) there is a small town named Kirtipur which once was the forth kingdom of the valley. Today it is the only one that remains relatively untouched by tourism or development.
History of the town goes back to the 12th century when it was established as a kind of outpost of Patan becoming an independent kingdom later and falling to king Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1769 after a prolonged and terrible siege. The Gorkha army lost 400 men then including their general Kalu Pandey. The vengeful Shah king had the noses and lips of all the men in the town cut off. However, there is another version as well. After defeat the Kirtipuris were ahsamed. They used the phrase "Nakh katnu" which expresses shame. But literally translated it means "to cut one's nose". So, in some opinions British explorers recording the history of the Gorkha army's conquest of the Kathmandu valley took the words literally and in reality there was no mutilation.

Red-skinned god and sinners in hell

There is a temple in Patan with unpronounceable name Ratomachhendranath. It is dedicated to Machhendra - the god of rain and harvest who for unknown to me reason is redskinned (hence the prefix "Rato" meaning "red"). Interestingly, this Hindu Machhendra revered by Buddhists as Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara so the temple looks like Hindu-Buddhist - with many-armed demons on the friezes of the temple and with Buddhist rotating prayer drums around the perimeter of the building.
The temple is a typical example of Nepalese architecture, it is three-storied pagoda. It was built back in 1673.

The most interesting temples of Bangkok

Temples in Thailand are called wat. All wats have some similar characterictics: it is walled compound containing several buildings in traditional Thai style with seep swooping roofs and colourful interior murals. There are more than 300 wats around Bangkok but the most important and beautiful are these:
The temple of Reclining Buddha. This is the largest and oldest temple of Bangkok. Besides, it houses the largest image of the Buddha. The highly impressive gold plated Buddha is 46 m long and 15 m high illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mothe of pearl decoration and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha.

Changu Narayan, the oldest temple of the Kathmandu Valley

Changu Narayan is the oldest temple in the Kathmandu Valley and also one of the most interesting ensembles. The temple itself is dedicated to Vishnu (most often called Narayan in Nepal) and stands in a spacious courtyard littered with priceless stone sculptures from the 4th to 9th centuries AD. Especially worth mentioning are the lion-headed Vishnu Narasimha, dismembering the king of the demons; Vishnu with ten heads and ten arms going through the different layers of the universe; Vishnu Vikrantha, a dwarf with six arms. The oldest piece is Garuda, the mythical half-bird half-man, Narayan’s mount which dates back to the 5th century (Changu is one of Garuda names).

Pashupatinath the most sacred temple of Lord Shiva

The Pashupati area of approximately 265 hectares is an ancient religious site in the Kathmandu Valley. It is embellished with historical buildings of great antiquity and significance: numerous pagodas, stupas and monasteries. And Pashupatinath, the golden-roof temple, regarded as the most sacred temple of Lord Shiva in his aspect as "Pashupati", the "Lord protector of cattle", has been for centuries one of the most important pilgrimage places for Hindus.