This year has brought some prominence to the Iglesia ni Cristo denomination. First they celebrated their 95th anniversary last July 27 prompting President Arroyo to declare that day as a national working holiday. Next is the death of their Executive Minister Ka Erdy Manalo last August 31. Just like with the funeral of Pres. Aquino, Arroyo declared September 7, the date of Manalo’s funeral, as a national day or mourning and a non-working holiday. I guess it’s only fitting that I now feature their Central Temple.

Photo by Richard Köhl. (CC)

The Central Temple is the centerpiece of the INC’s headquarters which occupies a large tract of land along Commonwealth Avenue just north of U.P. Diliman. Among the other buildings on the site are the six-storey Central Office building, the Central Pavilion (with a capacity of 30,000 people), the Tabernacle (that big white rectangular building just to the west of the temple where Ka Erdy’s father and INC’s first Executive Minister Felix Manalo is buried, and where Ka Erdy will eventually be interred), the New Era University, and the New Era General Hospital. In fact, the INC Central Complex is practically coterminous with Quezon City’s Barangay New Era. I guess the “state religion” of this barangay is Iglesia?

The INC Central Temple epitomizes the distinctive spired architecture present in all of their temples. It has a capacity of 7,000 people and I guess it’s a popular place to attend mass from adherents all over. I also guess that it’s a dream wedding location as evidenced by these photos in Flickr.

Download KML file (for Google Earth)