Golden Temple

The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism and its holiest site. The gurdwara complex is a collection of buildings around the sanctum sanctorum and the sarovar (holy pool), known as the Amrit Sarovar. One of these is Akal Takht, part of the Panj Takht (five seats of authority in Sikhism) and the chief centre of religious authority of Sikhism. Additional buildings include a clock tower, the offices of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, a museum and a langar—a free Sikh community-run kitchen that offers a vegetarian meal to all visitors without discrimination. Over 150,000 people visit the shrine every day for worship, being one of the most visited religious sites in the world. The gurdwara complex has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its application is pending on the tentative list of UNESCO. The pool on the site of the gurdwara was completed by the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das, in 1577. Guru Arjan finalised the constructions at the site. In 1604, Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh Guru, placed a copy of the Adi Granth in the Golden Temple and played a prominent role in its development. The gurdwara was repeatedly rebuilt by the Sikhs after they became a target of persecution and was destroyed several times by the Mughal and invading Afghan armies. Maharaja Ranjit Singh, after founding the Sikh Empire, rebuilt it in marble and copper in 1809, and overlaid the sanctum with gold leaf in 1830. This has led to the name the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is spiritually the most significant shrine in Sikhism. It became a centre of the Singh Sabha Movement between 1883 and the 1920s, and the Punjabi Suba Movement between 1947 and 1966. In the...