Seventeen years in the past I used to be lucky to have the ability to go on a tour of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, opened in 2003 and stated to be the biggest Sikh temple (Gurdwara) in Europe and the fourth largest on the earth, led by one of many Sikh volunteer guides and the architect, Richard Adams of Architects Co-Partnership.
The tour had been organised by artwork and concrete historian Mireille Galinou for the group London Arts Café, and was one in every of a collection of fascinating occasions and exhibitions between 1996 and 2007, which you’ll nonetheless examine on the relatively messy London Arts Café site that I used to be accountable for, although the entrance web page of this makes very clear that the London Arts Café is not any extra. The location stays on line as a report of its actions.
Architects Co-Partnership had gained an open competitors to design the constructing, and Adams had labored absolutely with the Sikh group to supply a constructing suited to their wants. It does so impressively: clear easy surfaces, highly effective color within the home windows and lightweight streaming into the central stairway and foyer from the big window and glass roof areas.
The Gurdwara has an enormous prayer corridor formally able to seating as much as 3,000 folks, a advantageous marriage room (and two years later I photographed one in every of my spouse’s colleagues getting married right here), and varied different amenities together with a Langar (eating corridor). This free group kitchen can serve over 20,000 vegetarian meals on a pageant weekend.
The constructing had a powerfully non secular ambiance, and on getting into we eliminated our footwear, coated our heads with scarves offered and washed our fingers earlier than persevering with into the temple.
As we went round each our Sikh information and the architect defined how the constructing served the fundamental Sikh tenets of service, humility and equality. The information defined the non secular steerage from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, non secular writings which had been appointed as non secular head of the Sikh faith by Guru Gobind Singh round 300 years in the past.
The constructing was extraordinarily spectacular, and there was an amazing ambiance to locally kitchen the place volunteers, primarily ladies, had been working collectively to organize the free vegetarian meals. Though usually I might have sat to eat on the ground within the conventional approach, a relatively painful knee made it simpler for me to face and eat at one of many tables together with most of our group.
The meals is free, however in return persons are anticipated or welcomed to carry out some service to the temple in thanks or give an donation which we gladly did. The meal was scrumptious and made a great finish to a most fascinating go to.
I ended my account on My London Diary:
Southall is now Britain’s Holy Metropolis, apparently with locations of worship for over 50 religions or denominations. Brother Daniel Faivre’s ‘Glimpses Of A Holy Metropolis’ revealed in 2001 after greater than 20 years of dwelling in Southall offers a great perception into a few of this range.
We didn’t on this event go to any of those others, however did go for a brief stroll earlier than catching our bus dwelling, going into the Christian cemetery reverse the Gurdwara and a few streets round for some views of the constructing’s exterior, in addition to some native views.
I’d visited Southall earlier than to {photograph} among the non secular festivals – each Sikh and Hindu – within the city and there are footage of a few of these on My London Diary, in addition to footage from Vaisakhi celebrations right here and in Hounslow, Slough, Woolwich, East Ham, Gravesend and Sikh protests in central London. Yow will discover these by looking on My London Diary.
Extra footage on My London Diary.
Tags: Architects Co-Partnership, group kitchen, eating corridor, equality, free meals, free meals, Gurdwara, humility, langar, London, London Arts Café, London Pictures, marriage room, Mireille Galinou, peter Marshall, prayer corridor, Richard Adams, service, Sikh temple, Sikhs, Southall, Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, teamwork, vegetarian meals
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