The Abou Ben Adhem Shrine Mosque (often known locally as "the Shrine Mosque" or simply "the Shrine") is a building of arabesque design located in downtown Springfield, Missouri, USA. It is owned by the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (more commonly known as the Shriners), and is the site of the annual Shrine Circus. The five-story building includes a large auditorium with seating for over 4,000 and has often been used for concerts. It was built in 1923 for a cost of $600,000 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The name derives from Ibrahim ibn Adham, taken from the poem Abou Ben Adhem by James Henry Leigh Hunt.
Famous quotes containing the words ben and/or shrine:
“Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”
—Calder Willingham, screenwriter, Buck Henry, screenwriter, and Mike Nichols. Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman)
“The United Nations cannot do anything, and never could; it is not an animate entity or agent. It is a place, a stage, a forum and a shrine ... a place to which powerful people can repair when they are fearful about the course on which their own rhetoric seems to be propelling them.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)