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 notable tourist sites in the world, with more than 70 million visitors since its construction. The uniqueness of the Lotus Temple lies not only in the magnificent grandeur of the architectural solutions, but also in the fact that people of all faiths can visit it. Since it was built on the initiative of followers of the religious teachings of the Baha'is.
A new teaching
The Baha'i faith originated in the middle of the 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. Hence the name of the religion. 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.
The idea of construction
Legend has it that about 500 years ago, the famous Shah Akbar wanted to build a grand palace where all the peoples of India could unite in a single religion. The Shah dreamed of how he was building this magnificent temple, open to heaven, peace and love. It was only in 1921 that the Bombay community of the new Baha'i religious movement, which had been established several decades earlier, wanted to have such a temple in their city, and asked permission from one of the leaders of the teachings of Abdu'l-Baha. However, he agreed to erect a building in one of the central cities of India. It was decided that it would be Delhi.
Construction
The construction of the Delhi Lotus Temple began only in 1978. Fariborz Sahba, an architect from Canada 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. A unique white marble imported from Greece was used for their cladding. The building lacks clear straight walls, rounded petals form a graceful curve. Grouped in groups of three, they gave the building a regular rounded shape. The building has 9 entrances, each with a swimming pool. As a result, it seems that the lotus grows out of the blue water surface. The Lotus Temple was built for about 8 years until 1986, and 800 people were employed in the work. The author has received several architectural awards for developing a unique project.
Interior decoration
The Lotus Temple can easily accommodate 1300 people. The hall has a diameter of 75 m and a height of 31 m. Marble benches arranged in a semicircle are at the disposal of visitors, a large amount of light freely penetrates through the windows, and the 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 priests in the usual sense, their duties are performed by volunteers. A pleasant bonus is the coolness and freshness, unusual for hot India.
