LOTUS TEMPLE

The Lotus Temple is also known as the Bahai House of Worship or Bahai Mashriqul-Adhkar Temple.

It is one of the best architectural marvels in the county in modern times.

The temple is visited by more than four million people every year with an average of more than 10,000 visitors daily. It is located in New Delhi. One of the world’s most beautiful religious buildings and a must-visit place when in Delhi.

Visitors from all across the globe come for peace, meditation, prayers and study. It is a famous tourist attraction of the city.

It is known for its beautiful flower-like architecture and marvelous ambiance that make it a popular tourist attraction for people of all faiths.

Many of people are saying that this temple looks like a lotus in shape and because of it is known as lotus temple. But this is half-truth. Lotus is a symbol of love and purity. It gives the message of immortality. And because of this bahai temple is designed like a lotus flower and it is known as lotus temple.

The temple was constructed from the money donated by Ardishir Rustampur of Hyderabad. He gave away all his life-savings in 1953 for the temple to be constructed.

Iranian architect Fariborz Sahba was approached for designing it in 1976. A UK-based firm named Flint and Neil was given the structural design project while the construction project was undertaken by ECC Construction Group.

Construction of this architecture takes 10 years to complete. The temple was completed in 1986. There are 800 people who have worked in construction of this temple. This team includes engineers, technicians, and workers.

There are nine sides to the temple formed by 27 marble petals, arranged in groups of three. The nine doors lead to a central prayer hall that has a capacity of 2500 people and is about 40m high.  The floor inside the central hall is also made of marble. The marble used comes from Greece, from the Penteli Mountain. Height of lotus temple is 40 meters.

Marble, cement, dolomite, and sand were used in its construction. It looks like half opened lotus temple. Outside of this temple there are nine reflecting pools. 

The Bahai House of Worship in Delhi is one of seven such places of worship. The other six are in Sydney in Australia, Panama City in Panama, Apia in Western Samoa, Kampala in Uganda, Frankfurt in Germany and Wilmette in USA.

It is in line with the teachings of the Bahai faith believing in the Oneness of God, the Oneness of Religions, and the Oneness of Mankind. As such, people of all religions and races can come in the temple as it is a place to worship the creator of the universe and not one particular deity. There is no idol to be worshipped and people of any faith, case, creed are welcome inside. Even though everyone is welcome, no ritualistic ceremonies can be performed inside the Lotus Temple nor can anyone deliver sermons.