Amritsar
Old, layered, dust-and-gold. Royal patronage stacked on Sufi shrines stacked on Mughal mortar.
Amritsar exists for the Golden Temple — the holiest shrine in Sikhism, a marble platform around a sacred pool with a 750 kg gold-leaf gurdwara at the centre. It is open 24 hours, free, and serves a free communal meal (langar) to 50,000+ visitors every day from a community kitchen run by volunteers; you can help cook chapatis if you want. Cover your head, leave your shoes at the gate, and don't take selfies in the sanctum. The Jallianwala Bagh memorial next door (site of the 1919 massacre) is the sobering counterweight. Make time for the Wagah-Attari border ceremony at sunset and a kulcha at Bhrawan Da Dhaba.
Source · Wikipedia · Amritsar · CC-BY-SA
Old, layered, dust-and-gold. Royal patronage stacked on Sufi shrines stacked on Mughal mortar.