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Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto the First Traditional Vedic Mandir in Canada

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The magnificent and intricately carved BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto will open on Sunday 22 July 2007. The temple is built at a staggering cost of $40 million and is free of steel. Majority of the parts of the temple have been hand carved in India. The local Hindu community in Toronto offered the services of more than 300 volunteers and financed for the major part of the temple. The temple has no government funding and has been erected in record 18 months.

Interestingly, limestone was imported from Turkey to India and marble from Italy to India. The carved pieces were then imported from India to Canada.

The interesting numbers of Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto presented by Zosia Bielski, National Post

  • 1,800 craftsmen involved at 26 different sites in India
  • 18 months to complete stone work
  • 18 acre site, fronting on Highway 427 and Finch Avenue (Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto Address and Location can be found here.)
  • 132 archways 84 decorative ceilings 340 pillars 24,000 carved pieces
  • 5 metric tons, heaviest stone
  • 50 grams, lightest stone
  • 2,393 metric tons Turkish limestone
  • 2,050 metric tons Italian Carrara marble
  • 1,349 tonnes Indian sandstone
  • 4,000 kilometres to ship raw limestone from Turkey to India
  • 6,200 kilometres to ship raw marble from Italy to India
  • 12,800 kilometres to ship carved pieces from India to Toronto
  • 305 containers used to ship them
  • 310 days it would take one full-time craftsman to carve one six-foot pillar
  • 100 craftsmen from India assembled the temple in Toronto
  • the mandir built using 24,000 pieces of carved marble and limestone

The ground floor of the mandir will house the Canadian Museum of Cultural Heritage of Indo-Canadians.