Lotus Temple

The Lotus Temple in Delhi, India is known so, due to its flowerlike shape, is a Bahai’s House of Worship . I have been there long time back, but would rate it as one of the best monuments to visit while someone is in Delhi.

Some interesting features of the Lotus temple are :-

It was completed in 1986 and serves as the Mother Temple of the Bahai’s in the Indian subcontinent.

It is inspired by the lotus flower.

The design is composed of 27 free-standing marble clad "petals" arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides.

Bahai’s scripture states that no pictures, statues or images be displayed within the House of Worship

There are nine doors of in the Lotus Temple which open onto a central hall, capable of holding up to 2,500 people. The central hall is slightly more than 40 meters tall and its surface is made of white marble. The Temple along with the nine surrounding ponds and the gardens around comprise 26 acre of land.

Since its inauguration to public worship in December 1986, the Lotus temple has attracted attracted more than 50 million visitors, making it one of the most visited buildings in the world. About four million visitors visit the place of worship each year i.e about 13,000 every day or 9 every minute.

As with all other Bahai’s Houses of Worship, the Lotus Temple is open to all regardless of religion.

No musical instruments can be played inside. Furthermore no sermons can be delivered, and there can be no ritualistic ceremonies practice

The site is in the village of Bahapur, in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

The architect named Fariborz Sahba, was an Iranian, who now lives in Canada. He was approached in 1976 to design it, later oversaw its construction and saved money from the construction budget to build a greenhouse to study which indigenous plants and flowers would be appropriate for the site. International Federation for Religious Art and Architecture, based in the United States, conferred upon Mr. Sahba the award for "excellence in religious art and architecture for 1987".

The major part of the funds needed to buy this land was donated by Ardishír Rustampur of Hyderabad, who gave his entire life savings for this purpose in 1953.

In 2000, GlobArt Academy of Vienna, Austria, granted its "GlobArt Academy 2000" award in recognition of "the magnitude of the service of Taj Mahal of the 20th century in promoting the unity and harmony of people of all nations, religions and social strata, to an extent unsurpassed by any other architectural monument world-wide".

 

Do not miss to visit it on your next visit to Delhi…