Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni

Kalmykia is the one part of Europe where Tibetan Buddhism is the traditional religion - the Kalmyks are descended from Oirats who moved west from Dzungaria in the seventeenth century - and this temple, opened in 2005, is the largest Buddhist building in Europe. Inside stands a gilded seated Buddha about nine metres high. The complex is arranged on a formal plan: a white outer wall with prayer wheels set into it, a ring of seventeen pagodas each holding a statue of a Buddhist teacher, gates on the cardinal points, and the temple itself on a stepped platform. The city around it, Elista, is flat steppe with Buddhist stupas and pavilions scattered through it and a chess complex built in the 1990s when the region hosted the Chess Olympiad. Kalmyk Buddhism was largely destroyed under the Soviet state and the entire population was deported in 1943, returning after 1957; the rebuilding of temples dates almost entirely from the 1990s onward.

What you actually see

• The nine-metre Buddha - the gilded seated figure inside the main hall.
• The ring of pagodas - seventeen small pavilions, each with a teacher's statue.
• The prayer wheels - set into the white perimeter wall, turned clockwise.
• The steppe city - Elista, flat and open, with stupas through the streets.

When to go

April to June and September to October; summer on the steppe is very hot. Two hours for the temple, a day for Elista.

Honest expectations

The building dates from 2005, not from any older tradition - the older temples were destroyed. Shoes come off, dress rules apply and photography inside is restricted. Elista is remote, with a long road approach and limited services. Summer heat and winter wind are both severe.

Nearby

Elista's stupas and the chess complex are in the same city.