Thread by @Jinanand

T 145

Las Vegas Jain Temple Story:

This Jain temple was constructed for the 1904 St. Louis World's fair, termed 'Louisiana Purchase Exposition'.
The Jain temple was made of teakwood and was a copy of a white marble temple eight times as large at Palitana

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#JainArtwork

The reproduction took two years work of Sixty Five artists and was made expressly for the fair. The beauty of the temple is that it can be dismantled into approx. 1600 parts and can be boxed. The structure is of the size 15 ft X 20 ft X 35 ft high and weighs nearly 4500 Kg.

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The temple is a rare surviving eg. of Indian tradition of wooden architecture. It is believed that it was originally carved at the Ahemdabad Woodcarving Company jointly run by Maganbhai Hutheesing and Lockwood de Forest, a painter & an interior architect of New Tork city.

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The temple was later bought by the Las Vegas based hotel named 'Castaways Casino'. The temple was kept beside the swimming pool & was given the name 'Gateway to Luck'. In 1987 when the hotel was demolished to make place for the new mega resort, the temple was again boxed.

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By the continuous efforts made by the American Jains the temple was acquired by the 'Jain Center of Southern California'.
Presently the beautifully carved wooden temple has been carefully restored and is located within the Jain Center at Buena Park, Los Angeles, California.

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