Biggest Czech Buddhism centre being built in Prague

Prague Daily Monitor, 9 January 2013

Prague, Czech Republic -- The biggest Buddhist centre in the Czech Republic is being built in a former factory in the Holesovice district in Prague, organiser Jan Matuska told CTK Tuesday.

The reconstructed building will host a meditation room for 250 people and exhibition space and there will be courses and lectures on Buddhism, Matuska said.

The Gompa Praha will be opened to the general public by the end of the year, he added.

The project has cost 28 million crowns, Matuska said.

"Buddhists from across the country as well as from abroad were collecting the money for ten years," Matuska said.

"A part of the money is a loan we will gradually repay," he added.

Followers of the Buddhist Diamond Way will meet in the former factory.

It is an eastern belief that got from Tibet to Europe in the 1960s.

In the Czech Republic, it has some 2,000 supporters.

At present, the biggest Czech Buddhism centre is in Brno.

Across the Czech Republic, there are some 50 meditation places.

Diamond Way's big centres are situated in Budapest, Hamburg, Vienna, Warsaw and London.

Diamond Way was officially registered in the Czech Republic in 2007. It is the only official religious organisation of Buddhists in the Czech Republic.
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