A real-life fairy tale: the world's most impressive temples

Christian, Orthodox, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim worship of any cult has always been a good reason to defy time and erect beautiful temples that are timeless. Today, they are places of spiritual pilgrimage and congregations of tourists who, attracted by their history and architecture, never fail to include them in their travelers' wish list.

Jetavanaramaya (Sri Lanka): the third tallest ancient structure in the world

Jethavanaramaya is a famous Buddhist temple located in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is one of the largest domed structures (stupas) in the world and is of great historical and religious significance. The temple represents Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist monks, the oldest surviving branch of Buddhism.
Jethavanaramaya with a height of 400 feet was the third tallest building of the ancient world. This stupa was built in the 4th century by King Mahasena and 93 million burnt bricks were used for its construction. The entire complex covers an area of 5.6 hectares and is home to 10,000 Buddhist monks.

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (India)

This temple is one of the most important Vishnu temples in the world, located in Tamil Nadu, India. It is actually dedicated to one of the forms of Lord Vishnu. Sri Ranganathaswamy, built on an area of 156 acres, is the largest temple in the country.

Dravidian style of architecture was used in its construction. There are 21 different towers inside the temple. The main gopura, or tower, is made entirely of gold. One of the towers inside the temple is 236 feet high and is painted in different colors.

Hengshan or Xuankong Hanging Temple (China)

If you suffer from vertigo, this may not be the right place to visit. Located 75 meters above the ground and built on the vertical wall of Mount Hengshan, it defies the law of gravity and your mental standards. Although there are several theories about how this monastery came to be, the most popular one is the one that says that Buddhist monk Liao Ran built it alone 1,500 years ago. The beams supporting it are positioned in the recesses of the rock in perfect balance, which usually causes visitors some disbelief. Hengshan Hanging Temple is one of the Top 10 most unreliable buildings in the world.

Now it is one of the most important tourist attractions in China, despite the fact that the road to its gates is not the most convenient of all (the only way is a ladder driven into the rock). You can often find worshippers praying in front of one of the 80 statues installed in the halls of the temple, which practiced the three major religions of China: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

Las Lajas Cathedral (Colombia)

This neo-Gothic temple is impressive for its picturesque location and the effort of its builders to adapt it to the green jungle. The sanctuary, literally hanging over a precipice, is an unforgettable sight, perhaps because of the initial incongruity of finding such a European temple in such an American setting. Located in the Rio Guaitara Canyon, almost on the border with Ecuador in the Colombian Andes, the two arches of the white stone bridge spanning the canyon give its visitors a dizzying chill, a unique experience that deserves to be immortalized.

Although the current temple was built in the early 1900s, the earliest version dates back to 1754, when it was just a small thatched-roofed den. It is said that it was on this last day that the image of the Virgin Mary appeared to a local resident and healed her daughter, who was deaf from birth, which can be considered the first (but not the last) miracle in the place. Since then, thousands of pilgrims have flocked to this amazing temple.

Wat Rongkhun (Thailand)

The white, meringue-like amazing temple, impressive in its shapes, is still under construction. Founded in 1997 by a Thai architect near the city of Chiang Rai, it is expected to take another 90 years to take its final shape. Just in case the date seems a little far away, you can always go to see how the work is going on. You'll discover another Buddhist temple, an almost fairytale-like visual oddity in which the scenes depicted are simply hypnotizing, and the crystal mosaics in the so-called Conference Hall send us into a world of fantasy. To get inside, you will have to cross a long bridge that passes over an artificial lake and thousands of sculptures of hands rising from the ground as a symbol of human suffering.

This temple is meant not only to remind you of the greatness of the Buddha, but also that to achieve enlightenment you must follow the path of clarity of mind. The color white will be the protagonist of your memories because it represents the purity of the Buddha.