Sacred Space In An Unexpected Place: A Hindu Ashram At The Prague Zoo
PRAGUE — Along a lush path, the sound of Hindu mantras grows clearer as a stone dome emerges through the trees. It is the dome of a small Hindu temple, or ashram, dedicated to Ganesh, the elephant-headed god. Visitors cannot enter the ashram, so instead they lean through the entrance to toss coins toward a statue of Ganesh, which is surrounded by artwork and sacred items. However, many of these visitors are not Hindu. That is because this ashram is not a traditional religious site; it is located in the center of the Prague Zoo.
While it is not unusual for modern zoos to feature cultural landmarks intended to educate visitors and provide context for the animals’ habitats, the Prague Zoo’s ashram stands out because, since its construction, it has become more than an educational attraction for European tourists. According to the Prague Zoo, many tourists and Czech residents from Hindu-majority countries such as India, Nepal and Bangladesh regard the zoo’s ashram as a living religious landmark.
The Prague Zoo is located on the outskirts of the Czech capital and houses hundreds of animals. It is one of the country’s most visited attractions, averaging 8,000 to 10,000 visitors per day during the peak summer months.
The Hindu ashram was originally constructed in 2013 as part of Elephant Valley, home to a herd of eight Indian elephants. Alongside the ashram, the area also features a Buddhist temple and three Hindu statues depicting Ganesh, Shiva and Parvati.
“Indians living in Prague do come here sometimes because there is the ashram, and there are, I think, two other ashrams in Prague, but in some apartments and stuff like that. I think it evokes the sacredness also to non-Hindus, because to the Hindus, I feel like, hands off, it is a sacred space,” said Martin Lednicky, foreign affairs officer at the Prague Zoo.
European construction companies and Sri Lankan artists collaborated to create the Hindu and Buddhist temples in Elephant Valley as a means of cultural education. However, Lednicky explained that over the years, the ashram has attracted attention as more than an artificial facade.
Evidence of this transformation can be seen in the coins scattered across the ashram’s floor, tossed toward the statue of Ganesh in a practice common at real ashrams. Lednicky said the coins are collected at the end of each day and used to support zoo charities.
The Prague Zoo also hosts an annual Diwali celebration in Elephant Valley, complete with decorations on the temple and a parade through the area.
“People behave like they do in a normal ashram, and I think by doing this, they have kind of transformed this ashram into an actual living ashram, which to me is fascinating,” Lednicky said.
According to the 2021 Czech census, Hinduism is a minority religion in the Czech Republic, with just 2,041 adherents. The Czech Hindu Religious Society, Hare Krishna and Vishva Nirmala Dharma are three recognized Hindu groups in the country. Hindu religious sites across the Czech Republic are scarce and often small, frequently located inside nondescript buildings.
“This is a little bit more in the open space, the Elephant Valley, I think, is very well done. People come, they’re surprised, they’re happy, they bow, they salute, they do the puja sometimes,” Lednicky said, referring to a Hindu act of worship.
Little has been written or documented about the zoo’s ashram beyond a few YouTube videos posted by tourists surprised to see their culture so thoroughly represented in the heart of Central Europe. However, the Embassy of India in Prague dedicated a post to the temple in 2019, writing: “A Hindu temple and exquisite bronze sculptures of Nataraja, Ganesh, Goddess Parvati etc at the Prague zoo in the backdrop of enclosures of elephants.”
In 2025, a man left a comment on the post criticizing the representation of the goddess Parvati, who was not pictured in the embassy’s post. Lednicky acknowledged a tension surrounding the statues in Elephant Valley: Visitors touch the figures for good luck and sometimes touch Parvati in inappropriate places.
“With Parvati, unfortunately, the breast is a thing that happens,” Lednicky said. “So, we do have staff members there most of the time telling people not to do that, because we consider that to be disrespectful.”
Lednicky said enforcing this rule creates a further sense of specialness around the site and contributes to its living religious character.
“Obviously there are a lot of people coming, a lot of people with different ideas, with different ways to approach these sacred spaces, let alone sacred spaces that in most cases are kind of foreign to them,” Lednicky said. “For me it’s fascinating that as a tourist-oriented place, you can create a sacred space without being associated to the culture or to the religion in any way. And with goals that are not religious at all, you can create a living religious place.”
The Hindu ashram at a Czech zoo remains an unusual example of cultural education imbued with an uncanny sense of authenticity. For Hindus, it may be a welcome sight so far from home — or an instance of cultural appropriation in the name of embellishing a tourist attraction.
Prague Zoo’s Hindu ashram, built in 2013 as an educational attraction, has evolved into a living religious space. Visitors toss coins, perform rituals and treat its statues as sacred. The site raises questions about cultural representation, religious authenticity and appropriation in a European tourist attraction.
Mae Bryant is a student who took part in the annual TFAS Prague program this past summer co-sponsored with The Media Project.