The Murat Shrine, now officially known as Old National Centre and originally known as the Murat Temple and Murat Centre, is an entertainment venue in Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

, owned by the Murat Shriners of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. It is the oldest stage house in downtown Indianapolis

Downtown Indianapolis

The term Downtown Indianapolis refers to the central business district of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. The boundaries of downtown Indianapolis have varied over time as the city has grown. The city's original platted area, the Mile Square, is sometimes used to denote the downtown area...

 that is still standing, the only Shrine temple in the world with a French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

-originating name, and the largest Shrine temple in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

History

In 1882 five Freemasons decided they wished to see a Shrine organization in Indianapolis. They joined the Shrine Temple at Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

, and had that temple's help in establishing an Indianapolis temple. The local organization of the Shrine, called the Indianapolis Shriners, was given its charter on June 4, 1884. The first potentate was John T. Brush

John T. Brush

John Tomlinson Brush was an American sports executive who was the owner of the New York Giants franchise in Major League Baseball from 1890 until his death. He also owned the Indianapolis Hoosiers in the late 1880s, and the Cincinnati Reds from 1891 to 1902. Under his leadership, the Giants were...

, who served as such from 1884 to 1897. Lew Wallace

Lew Wallace

Lewis "Lew" Wallace was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, territorial governor and statesman, politician and author...

 and Thomas Taggart

Thomas Taggart

Thomas Taggart was a U.S. political figure, serving as mayor of Indianapolis and influential in state and national politics.-Early life and family:...

 were among their first Ceremonial Class, held in 1885. By the end of the first year there were 105 members. The Indianapolis Valley of Scottish Rite

Scottish Rite

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry , commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry...

 gave them the "Pork House" of Townsley and Wiggans to hold meeting in.

The Murat Temple was built in 1909 by the William P. Jungclaus Company using the designs of Murat Shriner Oscar D. Bohlen, with Middle-eastern and Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian stylings that were fitting for a building intended for Shriners. Its namesake is the Nubian Desert

Nubian Desert

The Nubian Desert is in the eastern region of the Sahara Desert, spanning approximately 400,000 km² of northeastern Sudan between the Nile and the Red Sea. The arid region, a largely sandstone plateau, has lots of wadis flowing towards the Nile. There is virtually no rainfall in the Nubian,...

 oasis

Oasis

In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...

 Bir Murat, which was named for the Frenchman Joachim Murat

Joachim Murat

Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...

, who was one of Napoleon's general in his Egyptian campaign.

The Murat Shrine gave the Indianapolis Zoo

Indianapolis Zoo

The Indianapolis Zoo in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, first opened to the public in 1964. Its current home in White River State Park was opened in 1988 with a size of . The zoo hosts more than a million visitors each year and plays a role in worldwide conservation and research, including...

 its first camel

Camel

A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...

 and established the 500 Festival Parade.

The Murat Shrine is mostly known by the people of Indianapolis for its theatre, which was built in 1910. In its early days it featured Broadway plays and even a 1932 speech by Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

. between 1948 and 1963 it was the only road show

Roadshow theatrical release

A roadshow theatrical release was a term in the American motion picture industry for a practice in which a film opened in a limited number of theaters in large cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, and San Francisco for a specific period of time before the...

 venue

Theater (structure)

A theater or theatre is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance , a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces...

 in Indianapolis. Before the Clowes Memorial Hall opened in 1963, it was the home of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is a major American orchestra based in Indianapolis, Indiana.Annually, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performs 200 concerts for over 350,000 people. It is the largest performing arts organization in Indiana. The ISO is currently one of only 18 American...

; the Orchestra only survived the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 due to the nominal fee the Temple charged the Orchestra for using the theatre. The Indianapolis Opera Company briefly used the facility during the 1980s.

In 1984 the Murat Shriners had the second largest membership of all Shrine temples in the world.

In 1988 a fire broke out in the 1968 addition, injuring 15 firefighters when a portion of the addition collapsed. Other than that, there was relatively little damage to the addition.

On April 13, 2000, Murat Shrine had a famous wrestling match. Extreme Championship Wrestling

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...

 (ECW) had scheduled a card at the temple. Days before, its World champion, Mike Awesome

Mike Awesome

Michael Lee Alfonso , better known by his ring name Mike Awesome, was an American professional wrestler best known in America for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and in World Wrestling Federation and also in Japan for his work with Frontier Martial-Arts...

, left ECW to join rival company World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

 (WCW). After various legal threats, it was arranged for Awesome to drop the title in Indianapolis. ECW owner Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman is an American entertainment producer, best known for his career in professional wrestling as a promoter, manager, commentator and journalist. He is also an occasional actor in film....

 asked the World Wrestling Federation

World Wrestling Entertainment

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 (WWF) to see if they could borrow Tazz

Tazz

Peter Senerchia is a retired American professional wrestler and current color commentator best known by his ring name Tazz, originally Tazmaniac and later shortened to simply Taz...

, who once wrestled in ECW, to win the title from Awesome. Permission was granted, thus having a WWF wrestler defeat a WCW wrestler for the ECW Title. This match was not promoted, due to being arranged last-minute, and few in attendance knew the match would take place.

Construction

The building is themed after Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic temples found in the Middle-east and Egypt. Features of the building include stained-glass windows, terra cotta

Terra cotta

Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...

 trim, minaret

Minaret

A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....

s, and brick banding of brown and yellow. A 208 feet (63.4 m) tall tower is at the southeast corner. An addition to the temple in 1922 was designed to blend with the existing structure. The Egyptian-themed auditorium added as part of the 1922 addition was already planned before the discovery of Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...

's tomb, which coincided with the opening of the auditorium.

Facilities

The main sections of Murat Shrine are the 1,800-seat concert hall and the 2,500-seat performing arts theater. There are 9 areas used today to host events. The largest is the Egyptian Room, which can hold 2000 people for a standing cocktail reception. The smaller areas are the Corinthian Hall, Corinthian Annex and Corinthian Meeting Room, The Great Hall, The Crowne Room and various lobby areas.

External links

• Official website
• Old National Centre is located at 39°46′27"N 86°9′4"W