New Vrindaban
Moundsville, West Virginia, USA
- Deities
- Radha Vrindaban Chandra, Krishna-Balaram
- Traditions
- vaishnava
- Worship status
- active
- Address
- 3759 McCrearys Ridge Rd, Moundsville, WV 26041.
- Coordinates
- 39.9668, -80.6068
- Darshan hours
- Varies by temple and season; consult the temple's own website for the current daily schedule before visiting.
- Best time to visit
- Summer for outdoor festivals; Janmashtami (Aug/Sep) is the community's largest annual gathering.
- How to reach
- Near Moundsville, West Virginia, about 20 km south of Wheeling; reachable by car, nearest major airport Pittsburgh (~110 km).
- Festivals
- Janmashtami (August/September)
- Associated saints
- A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Location
Open in Google MapsFounded in 1968 under the guidance of ISKCON founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, New Vrindaban was one of the first ISKCON farm communities established in the West, intended as a rural, self-sufficient model of Krishna-conscious living modeled loosely on Vrindavan, India. Its best-known structure, Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, was planned from 1972 as a residence for Prabhupada himself; construction ran from 1973 to 1985, with the building dedicated and opened to the public on 2 September 1979. After Prabhupada’s death in November 1977, the project’s purpose shifted to that of a memorial shrine, built of marble, gold leaf, and carved teakwood by largely untrained devotee labor at a materials cost of roughly $600,000. It became a major regional tourist attraction, drawing an estimated 50,000 visitors a year by 2008 and sometimes described in American press as “America’s Taj Mahal”; a $4.27 million restoration of the palace began in 2011 to address decades of deferred maintenance.
Sources
- historical record: Cross-checked against Wikipedia's ISKCON article during authoring, which confirms New Vrindaban's 1968 founding as an early Western ISKCON community.
- historical record: Wave 2 re-verification: Wikipedia's dedicated article 'Prabhupada's Palace of Gold' (found in this pass, contrary to the prior flag's assumption none existed) gives the palace's infobox coordinates as 39°57'53"N 80°36'23"W (39.96472, -80.60639) and states it was planned from 1972 as a residence for Prabhupada, with construction running 1973-1985; it was dedicated and opened to the public on 2 September 1979, after Prabhupada's November 1977 death turned the project into a memorial shrine of marble, gold, and carved teakwood costing about $600,000 in materials with devotee-donated labor. As of 2008 the palace drew roughly 50,000 visitors annually; a $4.27 million restoration began in 2011. This resolves the prior flag: sources describing a shorter 1973-1979 build window were conflating the dedication date with full completion.
- historical record: Wave 2 re-verification: the community's own website (newvrindaban.com) gives its address as 3759 McCrearys Ridge Rd, Moundsville, WV 26041. Coordinates corrected after geocoding via the Komoot Photon service, which places both the general New Vrindaban community and its Radha Vrindavan Chandra Temple at approximately 39.965-39.967 N, -80.606 to -80.607 W in Marshall County -- about 18 km north of this entry's previous coordinates (39.7995, -80.6412), which appear to have been a Wave 1-era error; Wikipedia's Palace of Gold infobox (39.96472, -80.60639) independently corroborates the corrected location.