Lotus Temple

From Bahaikipedia

The Lotus Temple is a House of Worship located in New Delhi, India, and also a prominent attraction in Delhi. The temple was designed by Fariborz Sahba, an architect from Iran. The temple took 6 years to complete, where the construction began on April 21, 1980, and the edifice was formally dedicated to the Unity of God, Unity of Religion and Unity of Mankind on December, 1986. It cost an approximate US $20 million dollars. ^[1] It has won numerous architectural awards and been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles.^[2]

In total 10,000 m2 marble was quarried for the temple from the mines of Greece. The marble was sent to Italy where each piece was cut and shipped to India. ^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Structure 3 Tourism 4 Distinctions 4.1 Awards 4.2 Publications 4.2.1 Articles 4.2.2 Books 4.2.3 Stamps 4.2.4 Music 4.3 Most visitors 4.4 Notable visitors 5 References 6 External Links

[edit] History

The design of the Bahá’í House of Worship in New Delhi is inspired by the lotus, the exquisitely beautiful flower and symbol of purity that is inseparably associated with worship and religion in India. Its design is composed of 27 free-standing marble clad "petals" arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides, and is surrounded by nine large pools of water that, not only enhance the beauty of the building but also play a significant role in the natural cooling system of the prayer hall. An adjunct of the main building is its ancillary building which houses, offices, conference hall, library and audio-visual room.

The architect was an Iranian, who now lives in Canada, named Fariborz Sahba. The major part of the funds needed to buy this land was donated by Ardishír Rustampúr from Hyderabad, who gave his entire life savings for this purpose in 1953. ^[3]

[edit] Structure

Nine doors open onto a central hall, capable of holding up to 2,500 people. Slightly more than 40 meters tall, its surface shining white marble, the temple at times seems to float above its 26 acre (105,000 m²; 10.5 ha) nine surrounding ponds. The site is in the village of Bahapur, in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Since its inauguration to public worship in December 1986, the Bahá’í House of Worship in New Delhi has, as of late 2002, attracted more than 50 million visitors, making it one of the most visited buildings in the world. ^[4] Its numbers of visitors during those years surpassed those of the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal. On Hindu holy days, it has drawn as many as 150,000 people; it welcomes four million visitors each year (about 13,000 every day or 9 every minute).

[edit] Tourism

This House of Worship is generally referred to as the "Lotus Temple" by Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’ís alike. In India, during the Hindu festival Durga Puja, several times a replica of the Lotus Temple has been made as a pandal, a temporary structure set up to venerate the goddess Durga.^[5] In Sikkim a permanent replica is of the Hindu Legship Mandir, dedicated to Shiva. ^[6]

[edit] Distinctions

The Temple has received wide range of attention in professional architectural, fine art, religious, governmental and other venues.

[edit] Awards

• 1987, the Architect of the Bahá’í House of Worship, Mr. F. Sabha was presented the award for excellence in religious art and architecture by the US-based Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK, for producing a building "so emulating the beauty of a flower and so striking in its visual impact".^[7]
• 1987, the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture, Affiliate of the American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., gave their First Honour award for "Excellence in Religious Art and Architecture" 1987 to Mr. F. Sahba for the design of the Bahá’í House of Worship near New Delhi.^[2]
• 1988, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America conferred the Paul Waterbury Outdoor Lighting Design Award - Special Citation for Exterior Lighting^[2]
• 1989, the Temple received an award from the Maharashtra-India Chapter of the American Concrete Institute for "excellence in a concrete structure".^[2]
• 1994 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, in its 'Architecture' section gives recognition to the Temple as an outstanding achievement of the time.^[2]
• 2000, Architectural Society of China as one of 100 canonical works of the 20th century in the recently published "World Architecture 1900-2000: A Critical Mosaic, Volume Eight, South Asia."^[8]
• 2000, GlobArt Academy in Vienna presented its "GlobArt Academy 2000" award to the architect of the Lotus Temple, Fariborz Sahba, for "the magnitude of the service of [this] 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 worldwide."^[8]

[edit] Publications

[edit] Articles

As of 2003 it had been featured in television programmes in India, Russia and China. The Baha'i World Centre Library has archived more than 500 publications which have carried information on the Temple in the form of articles, interviews with the Architect and write-ups extolling the structure.^[2]

• In France, the magazine "Actualite des Religions" published a four-page article on the Lotus Temple in the fall of 2000 in a special edition called "Les religions et leurs chef-d'œuvres" (Religions and Their Masterpieces).^[9][2]
• Guinness World Records 2001
• Architecture (magazine) Sept. 1987
• Lighting Design+Application Vol 19, No. 6, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America "Taj Mahal of the Twentieth Century"
• Wallpaper* October 2002
• Progressive Architecture, February^[2] and again December 1987
• World Architecture: A Critical Mosaic 1900-2000, Vol 8, by Kenneth Frampton, Springer-Verlog Wien publishers, New York - "A power icon of great beauty ... an import symbol of the city."
• Faith & Form - Journal of the IFRAA affiliate of the American Institute of Architects, Vol XXI "an extraordinary feat of design, construction and appropriateness of expressions"
• Structural Engineer, UK (annual) Dec. 1987
• Encyclopaedia Iranica 1989

[edit] Books

• Forever in Bloom: The Lotus of Bahapur, Photographs by Raghu Rai, text by Roger White, Time Books International, 1992
• The Dawning Place of the Remembrance of God, Thomas Press, 2002

[edit] Stamps

• 6.50 Rupee postage Stamp featuring Baha'i House of Worship, New Delhi, India^[10]

[edit] Music

• Jewel in the Lotus (album) produced in 1987 by the keyboardist Jack Lenz for Don't Blink Music, Inc., in Ontario, Canada with songs or voices by Seals & Crofts, Layli Ericks, and others.^[11]

[edit] Most visitors

• "the most visited building in the world, according to a CNN report" ^[12]
• "the most visited building in India, surpassing even the Taj Mahal with some 4.5 million visitors a year."^[13]

[edit] Notable visitors

• • (1998 article with short list of notable visitors)^[14]
  • (2003 list of notable visitors)^[2]
  • (2004 addition)^[15]
• Pandit Ravi Shankar sitar maestro
• Ambassadors of Tanzania, Hungary, Panama
• Officers of Government (Ministers, Premiers) from Bermuda, Hungry, India, Ivory Coast, Nepal, USSR/Russia, Romania, Singapore, Tajikstan, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia
• Members of the Supreme Court of India
• Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, wife of the late Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi
• Prince Niranjan Shah, of Nepal
• Dr. Uton Muchtar Rafei, Regional Director, World Health Organization
• The President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was the first Head of State on an official state visit^[16]
• Amjad Ali Khan^[17] Classical Indian musician/composer
• Princess Margarita of Romania and her husband, Prince Radu von Hohenzollern-Veringen
• First Lady of the Slovak Republic, Silvia Gasparovicova

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

• http://www.bahaindia.org/temple/
• (28°33′11″N 77°15′31″E / 28.553088, 77.258735Coordinates: 28°33′11″N 77°15′31″E / 28.553088, 77.258735) Location in New Delhi, India

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Lotus Temple.