About

The Lotus Temple is a Baháʼí House of Worship, that stands on the western bank of the Yamuna River in Delhi.
The Lotus Temple is open to all, regardless of religion or any other qualification, as is the case with all Bahá’í Houses of Worship. All Baháʼí Houses of Worship, including the Lotus Temple, must be nine-sided and circular.

The Temple gives the impression of a half-open lotus flower, afloat, surrounded by its leaves. It is composed of 27 free-standing marble-clad "petals" arranged in clusters of three. It has nine sides, with nine doors opening onto a central hall. There are walkways all around the lotus with curved balustrades, bridges, and stairs, surrounding the nine pools. These pools represent the floating leaves of the lotus.

The central hall has the capacity to seat 1,300 people and hold up to 2,500 people. The central hall 34.3 is metres talland the temple has a diameter of 70m.
The temple is set amidst nine surrounding ponds and gardens on a plot of about 26.6 acres.

Constructed in:	20th century CE
Height:	34 m
Local Language(s):	Hindi, English

History

The foundation stone for the Lotus Temple was laid on 19 October 1977. The temple was dedicated on 24 December 1986, and opened to the public on 1 January 1987.

Architecture

The Lotus Temple was designed by the architect Fariburz Sahba

The surface of the House of Worship is made of white marble from Penteli mountain in Greece, the same marble used in the construction of many ancient monuments, including the Parthenon, and other Baháʼí buildings.

10,000 sq. meter of marble was quarried from Greece and cut to the required size and shape in Italy. The shells inner and outer are cladded with this marble using specially designed stainless steel brackets and anchors.

The lotus, as seen from outside, has three sets of leaves or petals, all of which are made out of thin concrete shells.

The outermost set of nine petals, called the ‘entrance leaves’, open outwards and form the nine entrances all around the outer annular hall.

The next set of nine petals, called the ‘outer leaves’, point inwards. The entrance and outer leaves together cover the outer hall.

The third set of nine petals, called the ‘inner leaves’, appear to be partly closed. Only the tips open out, somewhat like a partly opened bud. This portion, which rises above the rest, forms the main structure housing the prayer hall.

Nine radial beams provide the necessary lateral support near the top where the leaves separate out. A glass and steel roof at the level of the radial beams covers the opening at the top, provides protection from rain, and facilitates the entry of natural light into the prayer hall.

A set of exhaust fans are arranged in the dome to cool the concrete shell and prevent transference of heat into the Temple, while another set of fans funnel air from the prayer hall into the cold basement, where it is cooled and recycled back.

Additional Reading

Official Site for Baha'i House of Worship
Bahá'í House of Worship

Trivia

The major part of the funds needed to buy this land was donated by Ardishír Rustampúr of Hyderabad, Sindh (Pakistan), whose will stipulated that his entire life savings would go towards the building of the temple.