One of the first Buddhist temples in Europe was in Serbia

The Kalmyk Buddhist Temple, also known as the Kalmyk House, was a building of the Kalmyk people that existed in Belgrade between 1929 and 1940. It is considered one of the first Buddhist temples in Europe, after the temple in Saint Petersburg, built in 1909-1915.

Kalmyk immigration to Serbia

The turmoil in the world in the first half of the 20th century led to the displacement of entire ethnic groups. Thus, between 1920 and 1944, a large number of Kalmyks, between 450–500 of them, found themselves in Belgrade.

The majority of Kalmyk refugees (300–400) settled in the Belgrade suburban village of Mali Mokri Lug, thus forming the largest Kalmyk colony in Europe. At first, they aroused general curiosity, and the inhabitants of Mali Mokri Lug called them Chinese.

Construction of the temple

A number of their priests also arrived in Serbia with the Kalmyk refugees. The oldest in terms of age and priestly rank was Baksha Gavi Djimba (Manchuda) Borinov. Since Buddhism was not officially recognized in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Croats, and Serbs at that time, the Kalmyk colony turned to the Serbian Orthodox Church for help.

There is a letter of sympathy from the Patriarch to the Ministry, in which he calls on the Ministry to help the Kalmyks. This enabled the Kalmyks to receive state recognition and permission to build a Buddhist temple.

The Kalmyks established their first temple in Belgrade in September 1923 in two rented rooms at Vojislava Ilića Street No. 47 (that house still exists today). The temple was located in these premises until the end of 1925, when it was moved to Metohijska Street No. 51. In April 1928, they formed the Kalmyk Colony.

Former Russian Army Colonel Abusha Alekseyev was elected president, who, together with the Buddhist elder Baksha Manchuda Borinov, would launch an action to build a Buddhist temple in Belgrade.

Many Kalmyks worked in the brickyard of industrialist Miloš Jaćimović, who became a great benefactor of their community. On a plot of land of about 530 square meters in the village of Učiteljsko naselje, which Jaćimović gave them, the Kalmyks built a Buddhist temple in 1929.

Jaćimović also provided them with building materials – boards, cement, bricks and roof tiles for construction. This generous assistance attracted the attention of other wealthy representatives of Serbian society, including members of the royal house. Financial assistance was also provided by King Alexander I.

The ceremonial consecration of the temple, the first and only of its kind in Europe, took place on December 12, 1929. The consecration ceremony was performed by Baksha Namdjal Nimbushev, the spiritual leader of the Kalmyks in exile, who had traveled from Paris for the occasion, and Baksha Umaljdinov of Belgrade, assisted by two priests.

Among the guests were members of the Kalmyk diaspora from Czechoslovakia and France, as well as representatives of Russian organizations in Belgrade, including the atamans of the Don and Ter Cossacks. Belgrade can be proud… wrote Dr. Stevan Popović, a good expert on the Kalmyks, in 1939 in the Belgrade Municipal Newspaper.

Soon after its construction, the temple became a landmark of Belgrade and one of its landmarks. The Guide to Belgrade published in 1930 contains an entry about the temple, and a year later the street on which the temple was located was given a new name: Buddhist Street (today Budvanska). The temple building could accommodate up to 150 people, and classes in the Kalmyk language and Buddhist religious education were also held there.

When the home began to function, a Buddhist Spiritual Council was formed, which served as a link between all local Kalmyks. During the celebrations of major Buddhist holidays, Kalmyks from other parts of Serbia also came.

Soon, connections were established with the English “Maha Bodhi” Society, the Nicholas Roerich Himalayan Institute, and other similar organizations and associations. Nicholas Roerich donated an old Tibetan tanka to the monastery in 1930.

The Kalmyk princess Nirjidma Torgutska visited the Belgrade temple on September 20, 1933. The temple still lacked many ritual objects that could not be obtained in Europe, so a large bronze statue of Buddha arrived from Tokyo through the Japanese ambassador to Bucharest, and its consecration took place on March 25, 1934.

Additional religious equipment (drums, gongs, etc.) arrived with the Buddha statue. Half a year after the consecration of the Buddha statue, Belgrade Buddhists held a memorial service for King Alexander, who had been assassinated during an official visit to France.

The temple served the Kalmyks for weddings, funerals and other social needs, which clearly distinguished this temple from the real Tibetan ones. A Sunday Buddhist religious school and Kalmyk language classes were established.

At that time, religion was a compulsory school subject, and Kalmyk schoolchildren were sent to the temple for Buddhist lessons, from where they returned to school with grades given to them by the lama

A beautiful rose garden was located next to the building, and when the wind blew, bells placed in the garden would ring. The Kalmyks often served tea to their neighbors, and during religious holidays they gave gifts to children from the neighborhood.

The city government became a financial supporter of the temple, so in 1935 it was reconstructed and expanded by another 38 m². The main wall was decorated with two painted deer. In September 1935, the new ataman of the Don Cossacks, Mikhail Nikolayevich Grabe, who had also commanded the Kalmyks, came to visit. The tenth anniversary of the construction of the temple was celebrated on November 23, 1939.

During the war, relations between the neighbors deteriorated. On the one hand, the Kalmyks sided with the German occupation forces, and on the other, the city government, which was part of the puppet regime in Serbia installed by the Germans, withdrew their financial support in 1942 because they were not of “Serbian nationality.”

Demolition of the temple

During the battles for the liberation of Belgrade in October 1944, which took place in the immediate vicinity, the upper part of the Kalmyk temple was partially demolished. The Belgrade Kalmyk colony ceased to exist in 1944 when its members fled to Germany, and later to the United States.

After the war, the new authorities believed that the Belgrade Buddhist temple had lost its reason for existence because it was left without believers and without relics, so in 1950 they demolished the dome of the temple and turned the ground floor into a cultural center.

Later, the Socialist Alliance of the Working People of Yugoslavia, the Anti-Fascist Front of Women of Yugoslavia, and other trade union organizations held conferences in the building.

The building was also used for public events, such as weddings and dances. However, even in the late 1950s, this area was still colloquially called “Chinatown”. Eventually, the building was taken over by the labor organization Budućnost, which demolished the temple and built a two-story building on its foundations, housing its own service, Hlađenje.

Written by: Dalibor Drekić

Sources and literature:

Араш Борманшинов, Први будистички храм у Европи; Елиста, Шамбала, 5-6/, 1997.

Стеван Поповић, Београдски Калмици, Београдске општинске новине, бр.12,1939.

Олга Латинчић, Будистички храм у Београду, Архивски преглед, Београд, 1-2/1982

Змаго Шмитек: Калмичка заједница у Београду, Културе Истока, 25/1990

Тома Миленковић, Калмици у Србији (1920 -1944); Београд, 1998.

Џон Д. Принс, Белешка о калмицима у Београду, амерички антрополог (1928)

Josip Suchy, Na obisku pri budistih, Jutro, br.171, 1932.

Helmut Klar, Kalmucks and the Wheel, London, The Middle Way, 29, 3, 1954.

Helmut Klar, Die Kalmücken und ihr Tempel in Belgrad und München, Bodhi Baum, 5, 1/1980.

Долазак Калмика у Србију

Kalmyk Buddhist Temple in Belgrade (1929 – 1944)

Википедија

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