Vihara Gunung Timur

Vihara Gunung Timur is the largest Chinese temple in Medan and one of the biggest in Sumatra, serving the city's substantial Chinese community. Behind a red gateway, its halls are filled with the smoke of incense and lined with statues of Taoist and Buddhist deities, gilded altars, lanterns and carved dragons that coil around the columns and roof ridges. Founded in the early twentieth century beside a river in the old quarter, the temple bustles during Chinese festivals, when worshippers gather in large numbers.