Thien An Buddhist Pagoda - Varnsdorf, Czech Republic - Buddhist Temples and Public Shrines on Waymarking.com

Varnsdorf is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. The village of Warnsdorf was first recorded in the fourteenth century, and it united with nearby villages in 1849 to form the largest village in the Austrian Empire.
Prior to the end of World War I, Warnsdorf was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Following that war, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye incorporated it, together with the region of Bohemia, into the new country of Czechoslovakia. Following the end of World War II, its ethnic German population was mostly expelled to Germany, and the official spelling of its name was changed from the German "Warnsdorf" to the Czech "Varnsdorf".

Buddhism is practiced by around 0.5% of the Czech population. The Vietnamese-speaking communities form the mainstay of the Buddhist population in the Czech Republic. Around 2500 Buddhist Vietnamese live in and around Varnsdorf.

The Vietnamese practice mainly Mahayana Buddhism with some syncretism of ancestor worship, Confucianism and Taoism. They represent roughly from two thirds to three quarters of the Buddhist community alongside being the largest Asian community in the Czech Republic, numbering over 60,000.[2] The remainder consists of a significant number of Czechs who have converted (mainly to Theravada or Vajrayana Buddhism) and the smaller communities of overseas Chinese and Koreans.

Buddhism is found mainly where the Vietnamese-speaking people reside, notably in the cities of Prague and Cheb. Thien An Buddhist Pagoda in the northern province of Varnsdorf was the first Vietnamese style temple to be consecrated in the Czech Republic, in January 2008. The pagoda was completed in September 2007 and now serves as a center of Vietnamese culture and teaching Vietnamese language.

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Open to visitors?: Yes Photography Permitted Inside?: No Statue of the Buddha present?: Yes Related Website: [Web Link]

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