Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume (Elista)

 buddhist temple, 2005_construction

On December 27, 2005, the Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume ("The Golden Abode of the Buddha Shakyamuni") was opened in Elista, the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal subject of the Russian Federation. More than 5,000 people attended the opening ceremony, including representatives of Tibetan Buddhist communities from Moscow, Volgograd and Saratov.

The 14th Dalai Lama blessed the site of the future temple just before he left Elista during his November 2004 visit to the Republic and gave it its name on March 11, 2006.

During the opening ceremony, the Republic of Kalmykia President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov dedicated the temple to Kalmyks who died during and after their sudden and forced exile to Siberia after December 27, 1943.