Hours and Admission: palaceofgold.com

 

As you approach Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, you feel like you are walking into an ancient Indian kingdom. The expansive, breathtaking view of Appalachian hills and valleys draws your mind miles away and bathes it in serenity. 

 

Inside the Prabhupada’s Palace, the sunlight comes alive even more as it passes through 31 stained glass windows and is reflected in crystal chandeliers and mirrored ceilings. Your feet glide along cool, smooth, solid marble floors into the magnificent halls of the Palace. All around - in walls, floor, and ceiling – you see works of art: intricate designs of inlaid stone containing fifty-two varieties of marble and onyx imported from Europe, Asia, and Africa.

 

Entering the Grand Hall, you marvel at the giant French chandelier, over 150 years old, and ceiling murals depicting ancient Indian classics painted in the tradition of Renaissance masters. You imagine the majesty and opulence of that ancient civilization, and there it is! Right before you, the walls and pillars are accented with semi-precious stones and pure gold. Under the thirty-ton main dome is a 4,200-piece crystal ceiling.

 

The windows, too, are works of art, especially the four exquisite “royal peacock windows” each of which is crafted with more than 1,500 pieces of hand-crafted stained glass. Peacock and lotus motifs pervade the Palace, etched into numerous windows and carved into doors, reminding one of Lord Krishna, who sports a peacock feather in His hair and a lotus flower in His hand.