Palace of Gold -- PM Magazine KTTV Los Angeles

It's the last thing you'd expect to see atop a West Virginia mountain, but there it is, a glittering Hindu-style palace basking in gold. And the closer you get, the bigger and more detailed the palace becomes. It's called Prabhupada's Palace of Gold, and it was built by devotees of the Hare Krishna religious sect. The palace is a breathtaking masterwork of the finest marble and onyx, of exotic teak wood and crystal, sheathed in layers of real gold and copper leaf.

And every bit of it was built by hand. The story of the palace and how it got here is a fascinating one. In fact, some parts of the palace are not yet finished. Now, this is not a temple for worship.

It is a palace. It started back in 1973 when Hare Krishna followers decided to build this as a home for the founder of the American Krishna movement. Swami Prabhupada, at that time, needed a place to translate Hindu scriptures to English. And he needed some time and a place to go, a peaceful place, to finish his translation.

So we wanted to build him a small house in the hills of West Virginia to do that. His followers found some West Virginia hilltop property at a good price. But just as the work was beginning, Swami Prabhupada died, and the plans abruptly changed. His followers decided to build not a country home, but a magnificent memorial in honor of their Swami.

We were very much inspired by what he did, and we felt we should offer him the most wonderful thing we could offer. The problem was that none of the followers knew anything about building. They knew what they wanted the palace to look like, but they had no idea even where to begin. When we started this community, we didn't know how to pour concrete.

We had no ability, so we depended on God, and we studied, and we read, and we went to visit professional men, and we developed our own techniques. They began to assemble a library of how-to books, and by trial and error, several of the members developed into highly skilled artists and craftsmen. Ellen Schramm, for example, knew nothing about making chandeliers when she started. Today, she's a nationally recognized expert.

She has even resurrected a long-dead craft, crown making. This is a gold filigree crown. And Ellen Schramm is probably the only person in the world who knows how to make one. Another group of members learned the craft of casting marble.

Within a few months, they developed from rank amateurs into highly skilled artisans. None of us really trained up formally on how to do most of these things. It just came from reading other books and mostly contacting people that have done this sort of thing. To decorate the palace walls, the Krishnas needed a painter.

So Mark Missman, who had studied art in college, began to analyze classical Hindu artwork and was soon painting murals so realistic that they appear to be three-dimensional. Mark was never trained to do this type of artwork. He says his ability is a gift from God. I'm trying to glorify God with my work, so I feel that because I wanted to improve my ability to glorify him, he gave me the intelligence how to do that.

The palace began to rise as a whole community of artists and workers literally grew up around it. To support this army of workers, the Krishnas lived communally, raising nearly all of their own food. Krishnas are strict vegetarians, depending heavily on dairy products. Children are educated in the commune, and they are taught academic skills as well as Hare Krishna doctrine.

The village is spartan, reflecting the Krishna belief that life should be simple. But whether you agree with their beliefs or not, you must admit that the Palace of Gold is an impressive sight. Finally, in 1980, Prabhupada's Palace of Gold was dedicated, even though it is still not completely finished. Today, the palace is open to thousands of visitors and Hindu pilgrims.

Tell me about the gold color we see on the palace. Well, actually it's not gold paint. It's 22 karat gold leaf. We were quite fortunate several years ago when we first started putting it up.

The prices of gold were quite inexpensive. So we managed to corner a lot of the market on gold leaf in Europe. Painstakingly put it up by hand by a lot of the devotees. Now you can see it shining in the sun.

If you get a chance to see over here, well, we're very fortunate that we have a lot of artisans in our community, and they've put together over 60 individual stained glass windows, which no two are alike. And when the sun hits it from the different angles, south and north and west, that it floods the whole portico area here with different hues of purples and reds and greens. Very beautiful. No two of these windows are the same.

No two are alike. This wall that we're seeing here is pretty interesting and unique. It's actually inlaid onyx into marble. The process and the design was actually derived right here in our community and we had some people out from the original Taj Mahal who had seen this work and were quite marveled at its uniqueness and intricateness.

We saved the best for last. We're now going to be entering the memorial temple for Srila Prabhupada who was the founder of the Krishna movement. The memorial temple room is the inner sanctum of the palace and it is a visual feast from its intricate marble floor to its painted ceiling. The centerpiece is a statue of Swami Prabhupada.

A temple priest conducts daily religious observances here. Now, we should point out that this is not a worship service. It's sort of a memorial observance for Swami Prabhupada. The palace is still not complete.

Work will continue for several years as the palace continues to grow. In fact, as one Krishna worker put it, the building could go on forever.