Temple Of Time Goes Up In Flames

(Photo Credit: John McCall/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

The Ceremonial Burning Of The Temple Of Time

On Sunday night, hundreds of people gathered to watch the Temple of Time, a 43-foot plywood temple that has served as a place for healing for the past three months since the first anniversary of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, went up in smoke.

Since its inception, the goal was to burn the temple, but not as an act of destruction as some might think; but as a way of bringing people together to heal.

“I urge you all to let go of something,” Coral Springs Mayor Scott Brook said, as reported by CNN. “And like the smoke of the temple, please release it into the night sky.”

The Temple of Time was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, which is among five large-scale art installations being displayed in Coral Springs and Parkland over two years. The projects are an extension of art therapy in order to help children and educators cope since the shooting. Many have visited the structure to inscribe messages on the temple walls and pay tribute to the victims.

During the burning, families of several Parkland victims attended the ritual burning of the temple. Firefighters also surrounded the structure since the fire spread o the roof before engulfing the temple’s needle with giant flames.

By: Maytinee Kramer