London's architecture is hugely varied and in many cases pretty breathtaking too.
Besides the old favourites such as St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament, new marvels are being added to the skyline all the time, such as the Gherkin and, more recently, the Shard.
Travel a little out of the centre and you can still find plenty of structures that'll have you holding your jaw firmly in place for fear of it tumbling to the ground.
For starters, there's the stunning
Shri Swaminarayan Hindu temple in Neasden.
If you happen to be walking through the neighbourhood of Neasden, and you don't know about this place, you're bound to do a double, nay triple, take.
Here are a few facts that make it stand out from your regular Neasden two-up two-down:
It's famed for being the largest functioning Hindu temple outside of India.
It cost £12m to build.
It has the only layered segmental dome in the UK which also happens to be without steel or lead.
The temple was built in two and a half years and was completed in 1995.
It was built using nearly 3,000 tons of Bulgarian limestone and 2,000 tons of Italian marble.
- Many parts of it were first sculpted in India before being shipped to the UK.
- More than 1,500 sculptors worked on it.
- It holds the world record for offering the most vegetarian dishes (1,247) at a single event.
Not only is it enormous, but it's also rather beautiful, with its magnificent marble pillars, turrets and domes towering proudly over north-west London, not forgetting the many intricate carvings which can be found throughout.
Shri Swaminarayan temple is open daily and is free to enter. Do take a moment to read the
guidelines about proper conduct inside the temple before visiting.
The temple complex also has an interesting exhibition entitled 'Understanding Hinduism' where you can learn about the religion's history and principles.
And be sure to watch the video presentation which tells the extraordinary story of how the temple was constructed.
The exhibition is open daily from 9am to 6pm and has a small entrance fee.
