Gopuram

The term Gopuram ( Tam கோபுரம் - kōpuram - ɡo ː purʌm, "King's festivals " ) referred to in the South Indian religious architecture the tower, which provides access to the temple area.

Larger Gopurams emerged from the early 11th century in the southern Indian territory of present-day Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. They are an intrinsic characteristic of the Dravidian Hindu architecture. They serve primarily to a large extent visible demarcate the sacred precinct of the temple outwards and consist of a decorated with niches and guardian figures stone plinth on which a program executed in brick and stucco stepped, usually provided with exuberant figure decoration roof rests. The upper end is, as with all temple roofs, spherical Stupis crowned (despite the term similarity is no direct connection to the stupa ). The shortening up the Gopurams floors are accessible by side-mounted stairs inside. The central holes in the center of each floor allow featuring stunning view. Gopurams are usually built as a temple increases in all four directions. You interrupt the square surrounding perimeter. Larger complexes, so-called " temple towns " have several concentric rings of perimeter walls with central gopuram - access. The magnitude of the gopurams decreases from the outside to the inside.

In Germany so far, there is a temple with a gopuram in original form, namely the Sri Kamadchi - Ampal Temple Hamm. Of devout Hindus equipped with Gopurams temple to be built worldwide today.

Gopuram in the summer palace of the Sultan in Bangalore

Gopuram in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Gopuram in Chennai, India

Detail view of the gopurams in the Sri Mariamman Temple in Singapore

Gopurams in Southeast Asia

Also in the Southeast Asian regions of present-day Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, which have been influenced early by Indian culture and religion, Gopurams formed the access portals of temples. Starting from Angkor they were, although originally coming from Hinduism, also built on Buddhist temple areas.

Ta Prohm Gopuram, Angkor