I was strolling along Red Square and captured the beauty of the Temple of Vasilyi Blajennyi in Moscow, Russia. It got me thinking: what are the other most beautiful temples out there?

Angkor Wat in Cambodia gets my vote:

Can't forget the Taj Mahal:

I love the East-meets-West of San Marco in Venice:

Can't say East-meets-West without mentioning the Hagia Sophia's beauty:

Okay, I'm going to stop now before I make the longest post ever on Pandawhale. :P

Those are all spectacular, but my favorite temple of all time -- the Haeinsa -- is very plain on the outside. Its beauty is on the inside, because it was designed to be a repository for a complete set of woodblock prints of the buddhist scripture called the Tripitaka Koreana. The temple is a marvel of engineering with subtle adjustments to keep the air flow and temperature perfect throughout the centuries -- despite war, earthquake, fire, and flood.

Alhambera in Granada is one of my favorite most spiritual places on earth, though it's more a palace than a temple

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but the mosque at Cordoba is mind blowing. no photo can capture the endlessness of it.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts Eric, Joyce and Christina! Now I have an even bigger list of places to visit :)

Every time I travel, I can't stop admiring human creative capacities. It's so inspiring!

I truly love this convo. Thank you Elnura!