What if I delete the temple that expanded my borders?

[Dragon2]

I always rush-build a temple right away in a new city so that its cultural borders will expand. But if I have lots of luxuries, have no plans for a culture win, and don't plan to let this city grow beyond size 6, I don't really need the temple.

If I sell it to get rid of the upkeep costs, will my borders eventually contract?

 

[Ferd]

Ive done this and it worked OK for me. The boundaries stayed bigger, my city culture stayed the same, and I didn't have to pay upkeep on my temple.

 

[OneInTen]

Your culture will not be reduced, it's just it will no longer increase every turn from the temple.

Culutural expansion happens when your accumulated culture for a city hits, 10, 100, 1000 and 10000. Since a temple gives 2 culture per tern, if you only want cultural borders of size 2, you can get rid of it after 5 turns. Of course, the city will then be fairly vulnerable to enemy assimilation ...