The Sri Kamadchi Ampal Temple is the largest Hindu temple in Europe — a fact that still surprises most visitors who encounter its vivid gopuram tower rising above a Westphalian industrial suburb. The temple was built by Hamm's Sri Lankan Tamil community, many of whom arrived as refugees during the civil war of the 1980s and 1990s, and was consecrated in 2002 after years of construction by craftsmen from Tamil Nadu.
The temple is open to non-Hindu visitors outside of worship hours, and the welcome is genuine. Remove shoes at the entrance. The interior is richly decorated with sculptures of Hindu deities. The annual Chariot Festival (Thaipusam and the summer Rath Yatra procession, usually in June or July) draws tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims from across Europe and is a remarkable event to witness — the kind of scene you would not expect to find anywhere in Germany.