Shining gold in Battersea Park
The view from the north bank of the Thames near Albert Bridge across the water to Battersea Park holds a surprise: a pagoda with a golden Buddha. This is the Peace Pagoda that the Japanese Nipponzan Myohoji order donated to London in 1985. Inspired by a meeting with Gandhi in the early 1930s, the founder of the order, Nichidatsu Fujii, dedicated his life to the cause of peace. From 1947 his adherents began to erect pagodas all over the world. They now number more than 80, mostly in Asia, but also in San Francisco and Brisbane, Munich and Vienna, Birmingham and Milton Keynes. Each June the London pagoda is at the centre of a peace festival for all religions. Nipponzan Myohoji also converted a storehouse in the park to a small temple and dwelling for the monk Gyoro Nagase, who came to London in 1984 to look after the pagoda. He became a familiar sight in Battersea Park, as he walked across the lawns each morning at dawn in his saffron robe, praying and beating a drum.
The pagoda of concrete and wood is 33.5 metres high and has two wide-spreading roofs. The spire above them consists of seven rings with a gilded pinnacle. Steps lead up to the lower level of the pagoda base. On the second level, which is not accessible, four golden reliefs represent the life of Buddha: his birth on the south side, his enlightenment on the east side, his death on the west side. On the north side, facing the river, Buddha preaches.
Info
Address Battersea Park, SW11 4NJ | Public Transport Battersea Park or Queenstown Road (Overground); bus 44 from Victoria | Hours Park: 6.30am–10.30 pm| Tip At weekends in the summer months and daily during school holidays rowing boats and pedaloes are for hire on the lake, bikes from a hire station in the park.
The surroundings, a charming 19th century landscaped park, could hardly be more English. Visitors to Battersea Park enjoy a riverside promenade, fountains and roses, a subtropical garden, sports facilities, an art gallery and a café. The large lake is home to a colony of herons with 30 nests. The paths are used by joggers, dog-walkers, mothers with prams and every kind of city-dweller in need of a little respite. Buddha watches over them all.
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