Who Would've Thought?

Yesterday, my dad, my sister, my sister's boyfriend and I went back to the Palace of Gold (the place we went for the Festival of Colors) and took a tour of the palace. It was even more amazing on the inside than it was on the outside. Here's the really cool part though; I just assumed there were places like this all over the country. There aren't. This is the only one in the U.S. and, apparently, the first one ever. Srila Prabhupada, the guy who started the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the Hare Krishnas) is the one who actually founded this place. It was originally intended to just be a community for his devotees, but they wanted to build a special place for him to stay when he came to visit them. So they TAUGHT THEMSELVES how to do everything and built the whole fucking place by themselves. I find that completely amazing! They did all the marble (which is everywhere), stained-glass (some of the most beautiful I've ever seen), gold-leaf (also, everywhere), painting (including hand-painted ceilings, with intricate floral designs), and tapestries (unbelievably intricate). Here's the shitty part, he died before he ever got to stay there. So they just kept adding to the place and made it into this huge memorial for him. They added statues of him, and some objects that belonged to him. There is also a plaque of his footprints which is the original that every similar plaque in every other Prabhupada memorial all over the world is made from.

How does this place exist in WV? Furthermore, since it does, how did I not know about it?