Auroville

Matrimandir

A gold-clad sphere at the centre of Auroville, set in open ground the Mother named Paix, ringed by twelve gardens and anchored to a lone banyan she marked as the heart of the city. Knowing the timeline is what makes it worth standing in front of: conceived in late 1965, foundation stone laid at sunrise on her 93rd birthday in February 1971, the four supporting pillars concreted on 17 November 1973, the evening she died. The Inner Chamber opened in 1994 and the sphere was finished in gold only in May 2008. Forty-three years from idea to completed building.