Object description

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. 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.