Jain Temple of Antwerp, Jain temple in Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium

The Jain Temple of Antwerp, officially Shankheshvar Parshvanath Mandir, is a white marble temple complex in Wilrijk built from blocks carved in Ahmedabad and shipped to Antwerp. Its stepped, tapering tower rises to a rounded finial, with tiered bands of small arched niches, miniature pavilions and rows of sculpted figures, and a projecting balcony with a ribbed domed underside. A porch on sculpted pillars fronts the raised shrine, and a lower flat-roofed colonnaded section stands to the left.

The first stone was laid on 19 April 1996 at an astrologically fixed moment, and a tube of gems, money and ritual objects was buried during the ceremony. The marble blocks were carved in Ahmedabad from Makrana marble, the type used for the Taj Mahal, and shipped to Antwerp from 2001. The temple opened in 2010 and was consecrated on 27 August.

The name Shankheshvar Parshvanath Mandir refers to Shankheshvar, a Jain pilgrimage site in Gujarat's Patan district, and to Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara. Each 27 August the temple marks its inauguration with the dhvajārohaṇa, raising a flag; at the 2010 opening the community dedicated the building to the Belgian people as a gift in return.

The temple lies in Wilrijk, in southern Antwerp, on a former sports field of 30,000 square metres bought in 1992; the temple and cultural centre occupy 4,000 of them, with parking and cricket fields also planned. Guided tours are organised weekly, and up to two hundred people come daily to pray and meditate. Pilgrimages from the United Kingdom are arranged each year.

The marble came from Makrana, the same quarry used for the Taj Mahal, and the blocks were carved in Ahmedabad, where about two hundred craftsmen worked until a severe earthquake struck in 2001. Much of the ornament was designed by computer and cut with a computer-controlled drill while the blocks rotated on a platform; some pieces were finished by hand by traditional ivory carvers.