This is the fourth post in our focus series on Burning Man including one on mutant vehicles, one on sculptures, and an overview from our last trip to Burning Man in 2023. Today, I am going to feature the Temples of Burning Man, which are both beautiful and sacred— as suggested in the headline. A quick look at the Temple of Grace above speaks to the beauty of the structures. I will provide examples from seven more years below, plus an introduction to what Burners will see this year. Given that there have been 25 Temples so far, my objective is to simply provide a sample. In our 12 years of attending Burning Man, we have never seen a temple that we didn’t consider special.
The process of selecting and building the Temple each year starts with various artists submitting proposals to Burning Man for different designs. This is an artistic rendering of the temple selected for 2026— James Gwertzman’s proposal for the Temple of the Moon. His inspiration was the Queen of the Night desert flower, a flower that blooms and dies in one night. The design rendering of the Temple above is by Gwertzman, and the dawn rendering is by artist Annie Locke Scherer. (Burning Man Journal)Artistic rendering of the 2026 Temple at night. (Burning Man Journal)Artistic rendering of the inside of the 2026 Temple. (Burning Man Journal)Early morning view of the 2014 Temple of Grace at Burning Man. Temples are funded by a major grant from Burning Man plus fundraising. A close look at the structure speaks to the amount of work that goes into building one of the temples. It is mainly done by volunteers. The work starts as soon as the project is chosen. Wood is cut prior to Burning Man and then brought to the site. Depending on the complexity of the project, a volunteer crew of 100-200 people arrives at Burning Man 2-3 weeks before the event to assemble the pieces.Looking up from inside the Temple of Grace.The 2013 Temple of Whollyness at Burning Man was a pyramid-shaped structure of interlocking wood that used no nails, glue, or metal fasteners. It was surrounded by four smaller pyramids.A large altar or ‘cairn’ constructed of black, igneous basalt was located inside the Temple. Cairns are normally large piles of rock arranged in a cone-like formation as a way to mark routes through wilderness areas. I’ve often followed them, or their smaller cousins, ducks, as I’ve hiked and backpacked through the wild regions of North America. In case you are wondering what a ‘duck’ looks like…The temple was filled with them. The symbolism was obvious: Helping people find their way. This photo also shows how some of the wooden, interlocking devices were use to build the Temple.The 2010 Temple of Flux at Burning Man stressed impermanence in life. This photo was taken from the Man looking out across the Playa to the mountains of the Black Rock Desert. While the creators of the Temple noted that their inspiration came from desert canyons carved by wind and water, I thought that the outer structure resembled a sand dune, a perfect example of impermanence. The people on the pathway are biking/hiking between the Man and the Temple. At night, the poles held lit lamps. The buildings in the back were an urban representation of Wall Street. It was located close to the fence that marks the boundary of Burning Man.One of the entrances to the Temple of Flux We included the Temple of Heart in the Post we did on our 2023 trip to Burning Man. Unfortunately the rains hit the day before we had planned to visit it. Everything we saw from the outside was beautiful, however. I read that it took 1000 volunteers to build the Temple.The 2007 Temple of Forgiveness at Burning Man. This Temple was created by David Best, who was responsible for the design and building of several Burning Man Temples. Looking up from inside the 2007 Temple of Forgiveness.The top of the 2009 Fire of Fires Temple was designed to look like flames, reflecting that temples are burned on the last day of Burning Man.The Fire of Fires Temple at night.Of the Burning Man Temples that Peggy and I have seen, the 2015 Temple of Promise was one of our favorite because of its beauty and design.Early one morning, we joined hands with a few hundred other Burners surrounding the Temple as the sun rose.This back view provides a perspective on its cornucopia-like structure.A daytime view inside the Temple of PromiseThe Temple of Promise at night.My rendering of the Temple of Promise in black and white. Note the single lamp.The theme for the 2012 Burning Man was fertility. The name of that year’s temple was Juno, a Roman goddess of fertility, motherhood, and childbirth.This is an early morning photo of the Temple of Juno by our friend Tom Lovering.The Temple of Juno at night.Looking up inside the Temple of Juno at night. Note the intricate carving.A large courtyard surrounding the Temple of Juno provided places for people to gather and relax. It also provided space for Burners to leave messages expressing love, grief, hope, fear and anger, as well as thanks for blessings received. Literally thousands of people leave messages annually, most inside of the Temple.Sometimes, it seems like every inch of available space is used. A quick glance gives an overview on the breadth of messages. I particularly liked the one in the upper left hand corner: “Goodbye to who I thought I was.” More than one person has left Burning Man with that perspective!Another example. Numerous pets are also memorized: a final opportunity to say goodbye.A loving tribute to Zippy: Zippy’s ball, hairbrush, and bed.Whatever the message, it burns along with the Temple on the last night of Burning Man each year. This is the Temple of Juno going up in flames, releasing the thousands of messages that Burners left in, on and around it— honoring those who have passed on, expressing love for those who still live, and letting go of anger, hate and other negative emotions. Our Burning Man focus next week will be on unique structures found out on the Playa such as La Llorona, the large ship seen above.
My next blog-a-book post this Thursday will be my childhood experiences of “looking for God in all the wrong places.” While I don’t have a photo, I thought that this picture I took at Burning Man below is relevant…
Most of the money comes from entrance fees, Steve. Today the cost for a week (or a day) is $800. It adds up when you have 70,000 people. On top of that, there is fundraising. The contribution in terms of volunteer hours is even more impressive.
I like most the idea of the impermanence of every temple, and that people leave messages to be burned. This ritual is only symbolic, as our brains will tell us, but writing something down and then burning it up has an actual effect for many people. I’m glad that it is always used at Burning Man.
Nope. There are extensive safety rules in place and people to enforce them. One man did slip through when the Man was burning and threw himself onto the fire. That was tragic, maybe more so for the people watching than the person who was hell bent on committing suicide in a spectacular way.
Wandering through Time and Place 
They are amazing. I see that you have featured some before, but I didn’t remember them and really loved seeing them now.
Laughing about featuring them before, Ray. I kept Googling for info on them and kept coming up with my blogs. Definitely worth seeing again, however!
Remarkablle structures. All of them. Thanks.
Indeed they are, Peggy.
Thanks again for the great pictures!! Who pays for all this? Not a trivial amount of $$!!
Most of the money comes from entrance fees, Steve. Today the cost for a week (or a day) is $800. It adds up when you have 70,000 people. On top of that, there is fundraising. The contribution in terms of volunteer hours is even more impressive.
Incredible creations!
They tend to make the mind soar…
I like most the idea of the impermanence of every temple, and that people leave messages to be burned. This ritual is only symbolic, as our brains will tell us, but writing something down and then burning it up has an actual effect for many people. I’m glad that it is always used at Burning Man.
It seems to work for a lot of them, Crystal, given that thousands of Burners write their messages.
And no-one -animal or human- was hurt in the construction (and destruction?) of said Temple. Burning man rocks.
Nope. There are extensive safety rules in place and people to enforce them. One man did slip through when the Man was burning and threw himself onto the fire. That was tragic, maybe more so for the people watching than the person who was hell bent on committing suicide in a spectacular way.
A sad story. Suicide and Depression are terrible things.
Very sad.