Akshardham temple got inaugurated on 6th November 2005 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj and in the presence of the President of India, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, and Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh and opposition party leader, Lal Krishna Advani and more than 2500 guest witnessed this grand opening ceremony.

It is also been listed in the Guinness book of world records as the World’s Largest Comprehensive Hindu Temple. The whole area is proximately 100 acres of land and the monument is about 141 feet high, 316 feet wide and 370 feet long. The whole temple is designed according to the Vedic scriptures with the help of Maharishi Sthapatya Shastra and the architectural design and carving of the rocks and stones are the mixture of different styles from all over the India – Rajasthan, Orissan, Gujarathi, Mughal and Jain.

The construction style is unique in this temple, no steel or concrete is used to build the structure. The only things used are the pink sandstones from Rajasthan and Italian Carrara marble. The whole monument comprises of 234 elaborately carved pillars, nine domes and 20,000 murthis. At the base of the temple it is surrounded by elephants of 148 scales sized each and weighs 3000 tons, it’s known to be Gajendra Pith. It’s actually a tribute to the elephants for their significance in Indian culture and history.

Seven thousand carvers and three thousand volunteers worked together to build this beautiful monument. Around 6,000 tons of pink sandstones and more than five million fired bricks were used for the construction. The whole place is situated near bank of Yamuna River.

This temple is not only special because of its architectural design but also it is the combination ancient stone art and architecture, traditional culture and modernization and technology.

The whole place is not occupied by the temple, but 90 acres of land consists:

Hall of values

It displays robotic and diorama of Swaminarayan life incident and preaches the value of peace, happiness, harmony and devotion to god. It also has world’s smallest animatronics’ robot of Ghanshyam Maharaj and chills form of Swaminarayan.

Theater

It is known as Nilkanth Kalyan Yatra. It is Delhi’s largest format screen measuring 85 foot by 65 foot. The theater only displays the yatra done the Swaminarayan done during his teenage life for about 7 years of pilgrimage throughout India.

Musical foundation

The fountain is name after founder of Hindu organization, Shashtriji Maharaj and known as Yagnapurush Kund. The fountain is also known to be India’s largest step well as it has 2,870 large steps which come down to traditional Yagna Kund. The fountain measures 300 feet by 300 feet and has 108 small place of worship. In the center of the steps lies the 8 petals lotus shaped yagna kund which at night becomes the tourist’s main attraction.

Boat ride

Boat ride is designed in order to give brief history of 10,000 years old India which is about 12 minutes ride. For ride, artificial river stream is made and models of world’s first university, chemistry laboratory and bazaar.

Other features are Yogi Hraday Kamal which is a garden designed in lotus shape, Narayan Sarovar, a lake surrounds the temple, and many more to see.

Just because of so many features and plus the architecture of the monument is attracting the tourists from all over the India and other countries. Even if the work started in 1998 and finished in 2006, this place is regarded as Indian heritage because of it beatification, carving giving a touch of Indian tradition, art and modernization and technology.

To reach there is not a problem; it is located near Noida in East Delhi.

Timing

Tuesday – Sunday 9 am to 9 pm its open and on Monday it is closed.