Sri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple

The Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple is one of the largest temple for the deity Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) in Europe. It is on Dudley Road East, A457 behind the Meadows School in Tividale, West Midlands,England, on the border between Tipton and Oldbury; it was designed in the style of the Tirupati Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati, India, which is the second busiest and richest religious centre in the world after the Vatican.

It opened on 23 August 2006 and was consecrated in a five-day ceremony between 23 and 27 August. The Vishnu incarnation Lord Venkateswara is the presiding deity, with two other deities either side of him in the main temple- his wife Padmavati, an incarnation of Vishnu’s wife Lakshmi, and Hanuman the monkey God featuring in the Ramayana epic. Outside there are two small Shiva temples to his sons Ganesh and Murugan, along with a hall for Navagraha or small astrological representations of nine celestial bodies. It is an increasingly magnificent, well-appointed complex, very active with resident Brahmin priests; it is not necessary to be a Hindu to visit, but shoes are removed and photographing inside is not allowed.