A new Sikh temple, the largest in the Benelux, has opened in the village of Hoepertingen, in the south of Limburg Province. The previous temple was destroyed by a fire. With the opening of the new temple, the Sikh temple in the nearby town of Sint-Truiden is no longer the largest in the Low Countries. The Sint-Truiden temple has room for 100 worshipers. The new temple in Hoepertingen can accommodate congregations of up to 300.
Sunday was a day of celebration for Sikhs in the south of Limburg Province. 7 years after fire destroyed the temple in Hoepertingen, a new, larger temple has now opened. With capacity to accommodate 300 worshipers Dhan Dhan Shri Guru Ramdas Ji temple is the largest Sikh temple in the Benelux.
During a religious procession to mark the opening of the new temple the various volumes of the Sikhs’ holy book the ‘Guru Guru Granth Sahib’ were carried from remains of the old temple to the new temple on the top of worshipers’ heads. By doing so the new they consecrated the new temple as a place of worship.
To mark the opening of the new temple singers from the Golden Temple in Amritsar in the Indian state of Punjab travelled to Hoepertingen.
Somalpreet Singh told VRT News that “Its not just anyone that can go and sing there. If you sing there, it means you are very talented. We invited them because we look up to them. It is a special feeling. When I hear them sing, it feels like I am in the Golden Temple in India”.
Outside the temple it is very clear that food has religious significance for Sikhs. “Our first guru, Guru Nanak, taught us that we must help everyone: by providing shelter or offering food”, Somalpreet Singh said.