18 July 2010 - One of Kyoto's best known monuments is Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion). The Temple was originally constructed in the 1390s as a retirement villa for one of the shogun leaders and features a three-story pavilion covered in gold leaf with a roof topped by a bronze phoenix. Apparently, the retired general lived in shameless luxury while the rest of the nation suffered from famine, earthquakes and the plague. Still, the Golden Pavilion shimmers against the blue sky, its reflection captured in the waters of a calm pond. However, the pavilion is not the original: in 1950 a disturbed student monk burned Kinkakuji to the ground. The story is told by author Mishima Yukio in his famous novel. The tepmple was rebuilt in 1955 and in 1987 it was recovered in gold leaf, five times thicker that the original coating. You almost sunglasses.
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