Burning Man 2011: Photos from the 25th Desert Festival

Burning Man 2011 ended in a burst of flames this weekend. But that is, of course, how the Burning Man festival is supposed to end.

The near 50,000 revelers packed up and left Black Rock City in the Nevada desert Monday, leaving behind a pile of ashes for next year's week-long party. This year marked the 25th annual Burning Man, the festival where people gather on the playa to celebrate music, the arts and self-expression.

The center pieces of the event are The Man and the temple, both of which are burned during the final weekend of Burning Man. The Man is a giant wooden effigy, and the now enormous party started way back in 1986 as a simple beach bonfire burning of a smaller version of this statue.

Each year there is a different temple at the center of Black Rock City as well. This year it was the Temple of Transition, a 120 foot tall, multi-building structure that resembles an alien church, that represented the 2011 festival theme of rites of passage.

What we call 'The Temple' is a collective Idea, a Feeling, an Aura projected from the Participants onto the blank template of the building itself. It is therefore our mission to create the Temple as an empty, yet simultaneously beautiful, inspiring, and supportive vessel, that gently suggests & enables Participants to both feel & interact with it's intangible essence, International Arts Megacrew said on Kickstarter.

Photo: Reuters

A man going by the name Rev. Billy preaches an anti-consumerism sermon at the Burning Man Festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, August 29, 2003. The Burning Man Festival has been celebrated annually since 1986 and draws around 20,000 people to the Black Rock Desert, celebrating radical self expression.

Photo: Reuters

A man wrapped in duct tape stands during a sandstorm at the Burning Man Festival in Black Rock City, Nevada

Photo: Reuters

The Man is burned during the Burning Man 2011 arts and music festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada

Photo: Reuters

A participant dressed as the "Dust Demon" walks across the playa during the Burning Man "Rites of Passage" arts and music festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada

Photo: Reuters

The Temple of Transition burns during the Burning Man 2011 "Rites of Passage" arts and music festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada, September 4, 2011. More than 50,000 people from all over the world have gathered at the sold out festival which is celebrating its 25th year.

Photo: Reuters

Burning Man participants parade across the Black Rock Desert with jellyfish that they created in the early hours of the morning during the Burning Man 2011 "Rites of Passage" arts and music festival in Nevada September 2, 2011.

Photo: Reuters

"Art Protector", her Playa name, reacts after the moving of a 50-feet tall Trojan Horse during the Burning Man 2011 "Rites of Passage" arts and music festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada, September 2, 2011.

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