Lotus Temple
The Lotus Temple is one of the most unusual temples on Earth. Opened relatively recently - in 1986, it is considered one of the most prominent tourist sites in the world; since its construction, more than 70 million visitors have visited it. The uniqueness of the Lotus Temple lies not only in the magnificent grandeur of the architectural designs, but also in the fact that people of all religions can visit it. Since it was erected on the initiative of followers of the Baha'i religious teachings.
New teaching
The Baha'i Faith originated in the mid-19th century in Persia and now has more than 5 million adherents in 188 countries. The founder was Mirza Hussein Ali, who called himself Baha'u'llah. This is where the name of the religion comes from. The main idea of religious teaching is the theme of one God, one religion, and therefore the unity of humanity, regardless of whether a person professes Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or any other religion.
Construction idea
Legend says that approximately 500 years ago the famous Shah Akbar wanted to build a grandiose palace where all the peoples of India could unite in a single religion. The Shah dreamed of building this magnificent temple, open to heaven, peace and love. And only in 1921, the Bombay community of the Baha'i, a new religious movement created several decades earlier, wanted to have such a temple in their city, and asked permission for this from one of the leaders of the teachings of Abdud-Bahá. However, he agreed to erect a building in one of the central cities of India. It was decided that it would be Delhi.
Construction
Construction of the Delhi Lotus Temple began only in 1978. Fariborz Sahba, a Canadian architect with Iranian roots, was commissioned to design the drawings. It was decided to build the building in the form of an opening white lotus with 27 petals. Unique white marble brought from Greece was used for their cladding. The building does not have clear straight walls; rounded petals form a graceful curve. United in groups of three, they gave the building a regular rounded shape. The building has 9 entrances, each of them has a swimming pool. As a result, it seems that the lotus is growing from the blue surface of the water. The Lotus Temple took about 8 years to build until 1986, and 800 people were employed in the work. For the development of a unique project, the author received several architectural awards.
Interior decoration
The Lotus Temple can easily accommodate 1,300 people. The diameter of the hall is 75 m, height - 31 m. Visitors have at their disposal marble benches located in a semicircle, a large amount of light freely penetrates through the windows, and a golden Baha'i sign is depicted under the dome. There are no altars, sculptures or wall paintings in the room, which is fully consistent with the new teaching. There are no clergy in the usual sense; their duties are performed by volunteers. A pleasant bonus is the coolness and freshness, unusual for hot India.
