India: Architectural Masterpieces : The Baha’i Temple of New Delhi
Above The Oneness, New Delhi. Photo by Akhil Kabu, Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir
The Baha’i Temple in New Delhi is made to look like a lotus flower.
The Temple designer is Fariburz Sahba and it was finished in 1986. The temple is modeled after the Lotus flower and the theme is the “oneness of mankind, god and religion”. The buildings lotus shape is created by three sets of leaves or petals, which are made of thin concrete shells. The temple complex consists of the main house of worship; the ancillary block which houses the reception centre, the library and the administrative building. The temple receives about 10,000 visitors daily and it has had over 40 million visitors since it opened.
The pictures below of a lotus flower and the Baha’i temple shows how the temple construction mimics a Lotus flower. An important characteristic of Indian architecture is the use of sacred symbols, which present holiness or divinity in Indian religions. One such symbol is the sacred Lotus flower. It is common to most of the religions in India, thus the flower and the temple represent a theme of unification and commonality that underlies the main theme of the Baha’i religion; the oneness or singularity of God, Man and Religion.
The temple complex covers 23 acres and it addition to the temple, educational building, information centre and administrative buildings there are gardens and ponds. The building is also the first temple in India run by solar power.
The Bahá'í House of Worship in New Delhi, India has won many awards including the following:
• “First Honour award: Interfaith Forum on Religious Art and Architecture, Affiliate of the American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., in 1987”
• “Special Architecture award from the Institution of Structural Engineers, United Kingdom in 1987”
• “The Paul Waterbury Outdoor Lighting Design Award-Special Citation; Illuminating Engineering Society of North America in 1988”
• “Recognition Award, American Concrete Institute: >one of the finest concrete structures of the world in 1990”
• “The GlobArt Academy 2000 award for "promoting the unity and harmony of people of all nations, religions and social strata, to an extent unsurpassed by any other architectural monument worldwide"
Source Credit: This award information is from the Baha’i Temple in New Delhi website.
References
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Temple
- http://www.bahaihouseofworship.in/
- https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5921/
- http://www.india.com/travel/articles/5-interesting-facts-about-the-beautiful-lotus-temple-in-delhi-that-you-must-know/
Picture Credits
All photos courtesy of Baha’i House of Worship Information Centre provided to the public, so considered public domain.
Hi
This is a good post about a beautiful work of architectural art in India. I see that Cheetah got you. I actually checked your references and I see you copied the list of awards from the temple website. You put them in quotations and cited the reference, so I think your acknowledgment of your source is good journalistic practice. I hope no one thinks less of you for copying facts and citing the source, because I don’t.
Good job!
Thank you for your kind and supportive comments. I have learned something from Cheetah today and I hope to learn and better myself everyday.
😊
You got a 4.00% upvote from @emperorofnaps courtesy of @shortsegments!
Want to promote your posts too? Send 0.05+ SBD or STEEM to @emperorofnaps to receive a share of a full upvote every 2.4 hours...Then go relax and take a nap!
You just planted 0.16 tree(s)!
Thanks to @shortsegments
We have planted already 3493.81 trees
out of 1,000,000
Let's save and restore Abongphen Highland Forest
in Cameroonian village Kedjom-Keku!
Plant trees with @treeplanter and get paid for it!
My Steem Power = 25703.49
Thanks a lot!
@martin.mikes coordinator of @kedjom-keku
Very beautiful structure!
Lovely pictures.