Buddhist temple’s stunning roof a tribute to local workmanship

CONSTRUCTION of the copper roofs on a temple at Dzogchen Beara Buddhist Meditation Centre in Beara was completed last week. 

Centre director Malcolm MacClancy confirmed to The Southern Star that the roofs are designed in the authentic style of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery and adorned with copper ornaments. 

He said the sacred Buddhist symbols were made in India and hand-gilded by the temple team at Dzogchen Beara. 

The ornament at the apex of the roofs contains an ingot of copper donated by near-neighbours at the Allihies Coppermines museum. The ingot was mined locally in the 19th century and installed during a special ceremony last July. ‘Constructing roofs to last hundreds of years in this salty and stormy marine location was a daunting task, but a team of local contractors proved up to the challenge,’ said Malcolm.

Gavin McCarthy of DMCA from Bantry is the architect engineer guiding construction with Brian Murphy of Beara Building Services in Kilamacowen. 

Copmac from Bantry erected the scaffolding while Stroker Fabrications from Enniskeane provided the galvanized steel frames, which support the roofs, that are shaped by glulam cedar beams manufactured by Cedarlan of Cork. 

Wychbro Coppersmiths from Lisavaird sheeted the roofs with a copper alloy, called Aurubis Nrodic Royal, which will keep its shine, despite the elements.

According to centre director Tibetan Lamas, the temple will be an important place of healing for the locality and its position on the Atlantic cliffs at the edge of Europe gives it a global significance. 

Temple architect Giles Oliver, who passed away three years ago, envisaged the building as a ‘beacon of wisdom and compassion’.

The shine of the new roofs already evokes a sense of this unique building being a lighthouse of hope for peace and harmony in the world.