Vedic Cultural Center (ISKCON Seattle)
Seattle, Washington, USA
- Deities
- Sri Sri Radha Nila Madhava, Sita Ram Laxman Hanuman, Sri Jagannath Baladev Subhadra, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai
- Traditions
- vaishnava
- Worship status
- active
- Address
- 1420 228th Ave SE, Sammamish, WA 98075, in the greater Seattle metropolitan area; the community's original 1970s-90s locations were within Seattle proper (Capitol Hill, then Madrona) before relocating to the eastside suburbs.
- Coordinates
- 47.5963414, -122.03452
- Darshan hours
- Varies; consult the Vedic Cultural Center directly (vedicculturalcenter.org) for the current schedule before visiting.
- Best time to visit
- Radhashtami and other major Gaudiya Vaishnava festivals; the center's own published calendar lists a Radhashtami celebration in September.
- How to reach
- At 1420 228th Avenue SE in Sammamish, in Seattle's eastside suburbs; reachable from central Seattle via the SR-520 or I-90 floating bridges.
- Festivals
- Radhashtami (September)
- Associated saints
- A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Harry Terhanian (temple president/head priest since 1991)
Location
Open in Google MapsSeattle’s Hare Krishna community traces back to the 1970s, when it grew to around 120 devotees before running into what a 2008 Seattle Times feature (republished by ISKCON’s own news service) described as “its own controversies.” By 1991, when Harry Terhanian arrived as its new temple president and head priest, the community was, in his own words, on the verge of closing, with “more deities than devotees.” Over the following years the temple moved from Capitol Hill to Madrona within Seattle proper, and its congregation regrouped in a “run-down three-bedroom house” in what was then Issaquah, rebuilding gradually as Indian immigrant families joined from the mid-1990s onward.
That revival culminated in August 2008 with the opening of a purpose-built, $4.5 million, 12,200-square-foot temple in Sammamish, in Seattle’s eastside suburbs, formally named the Vedic Cultural Center. Today it serves roughly 300 regular worshippers and houses four deity groups — Sri Sri Radha Nila Madhava; Sita Ram Laxman Hanuman; Sri Jagannath Baladev Subhadra; and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai — continuing to operate as ISKCON’s Seattle-area center under its official name, the Vedic Cultural Center.
Sources
- historical record: Cross-checked against a Seattle Times feature (by Janet I. Tu, August 23, 2008), republished by ISKCON's own news service at iskconnews.org: 'The local Hare Krishna community, which had grown to about 120 people in the 1970s...By 1991, when current temple president and head priest Harry Terhanian arrived, it was on the verge of closing...The temple moved to Madrona and then to its current location...These days, about 300 people worship regularly in the 12,200-square-foot temple that replaced the old house. The $4.5 million, marble-floored structure, formally called the Vedic Cultural Center, opened last month.' Independently corroborated by the ISKCON Desire Tree directory (centers.iskcondesiretree.com/seattle), which gives the address '1420 228th Avenue S.E., Sammamish, Seattle, Washington, United States - 98075' and lists the same four deity groups named above, and by the center's own official website, vedicculturalcenter.org, which displays the ISKCON affiliation and a current festival calendar including a Radhashtami celebration. Address independently confirmed via OpenStreetMap/Nominatim geocoding, which resolves this address to a point explicitly tagged 'Vedic Cultural Center and ISKCON Temple.'
For review
- The exact founding year and founder of the original 1970s Seattle Hare Krishna community were not identified in the sources consulted; the community's documented history begins with its 1970s growth to roughly 120 people and its near-closure by 1991, after which it was revived under Harry Terhanian and relocated over time from Seattle proper (Capitol Hill, then Madrona) to a house in what was then Issaquah, and ultimately to the current purpose-built temple in Sammamish, which opened in August 2008.