Matrimandir, Auroville
மாத்ரிமந்திர், ஆரோவில்
In Tamil Nadu, outside the Union Territory of Puducherry
The golden sphere at the centre of Auroville, conceived by the Mother as the “Soul of the City” and completed in 2008. In Tamil Nadu, north of Pondicherry.
The Matrimandir stands in a large open space called “Peace” at the centre of Auroville, the experimental township founded in 1968 just north of Pondicherry. A sphere clad in golden discs, it rises among twelve petals and twelve gardens.
History
Mirra Alfassa, the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville’s spiritual co-founder, conceived it in late 1965 as a shining sphere among twelve gardens and marked a lone banyan tree as the city’s centre. The foundation stone was laid at sunrise on 21 February 1971, her 93rd birthday. The four supporting pillars were completed on 17 November 1973, the evening she died.
Aurovilians and craftsmen built it over 37 years. The inner chamber, a meditation hall, opened in 1994, and the golden sphere was completed in May 2008; the gardens and the surrounding lake came later.
What to see
- The golden sphere and its twelve petals
- The banyan tree that marks the centre of Auroville
- The gardens of the central “Peace” area
Why visit
It is the spiritual centre of Auroville and its best-known sight.
Before you go
Auroville is in Tamil Nadu, outside Puducherry. The Matrimandir and its gardens are open to the public by appointment, under conditions set by Auroville: check them before you go.
- Coordinates
12.007031, 79.810634