Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visited Switzerland last week, where he met with Tamil Hindus at a temple in Bern as part of his visit to the country.

The Dalai Lama went to the House of Religions, a community project that opened in 2014 with eight religious places of worship housed in the building. Tamils from the North-East who now reside in Switzerland, set up the Saivanerikoodam Temple there in 2014, one of several Tamil Hindu temples dotted across the country.

He visited the temple, where Tamil children lined up to greet the spiritual leader. After receiving bouquets of flowers , the Dalai Lama went on to offer prayers at the temple, whilst children were chanting prayers in Tamil.

Both the Tibetan leader and Bern city president Alexander Tschäppät, who accompanied him on his trip, were garlanded as the ceremony drew to a close.

They went on to meet with representatives from the Alevite, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Judaic, Baha’i and Sikh communities.

The Dalai Lama has previously spoken out against violence committed by Buddhists in Sri Lanka, sparking backlash from Sinhala Buddhist monks on the island. Though he has attempted to visit the island in previous years, his visit has always been blocked by Sri Lankan authorities, who even prevented Sri Lanka’s cricketers from meeting with the spiritual leader.

See more photographs from his visit on Tamilwin here.