With Burning Man 2024 concluded, organizers have shared imagery depicting the building, use, and ultimate demise of the event’s main temple. Designed by Caroline “Glitter Kitty” Ghosn, the Temple of Together was inspired by Lebanese Khaizaran chairs and the artist’s own decades-long battle with multi-generational trauma and illness.

The design of the temple seeks to portray “the light that emerges when we come together with all parts of ourselves and with the oneness we share with all living things.” The leading motif of the temple is the representation of two hands coming together in prayer, symbolizing a common gesture of unity, humility, and respect to almost all spiritual traditions.

The gesture of unity is depicted literally by the two hands creating the temple’s entrance archway, but also in a more abstract sense through neo-Gothic pointed arches repeated throughout the design, “reminiscent of the layered, geometric shapes and symmetry of the Art Deco style from a century ago.”

The completed scheme, including a fenced courtyard, spans 94 feet in diameter and rises 70 feet in height. The temple’s cladding is based on reeded weaving techniques which allowed for the use of sustainable and repurposed materials as well as a construction process that invited participation from volunteers of any skill level. Inside, an altar, spire, and rising lanterns are intended to direct light energy “up and out as a shared journey.”

Having hosted tens of thousands of people, the conclusion of the 2024 event saw the Temple of Together reduced to ashes before Black Rock City was vacated for another year.