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Baháʼí House of Worship

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A map of the location of Bahá'í Houses of Worship worldwide; Green represents countries that currently have Bahá'í Houses of Worship (with a blue dot for the city); Red represents countries where a House of Worship existed, but no longer does; Light Green represents countries where Houses of Worship were planned in 1963.

A Bahá'í House of Worship, sometimes referred to by its Arabic name of Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (Template:ArB), is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Bahá'í Faith. The teachings of the religion envision Houses of Worship being surrounded by a number of dependencies dedicated to social, humanitarian, educational, and scientific pursuits, although none have yet been built to such an extent.

Only eight Houses of Worship have been built around the world, with a ninth under construction in Chile. Bahá'í communities own many properties where Houses of Worship remain to be constructed as the Bahá'í community grows and develops further. The Houses of Worship are open to the public, and are exclusively reserved for worship, where sermons are prohibited and only scriptural readings may be read. Most Bahá'í meetings occur in local Bahá'í centres, individuals' homes, or rented facilities.

Description

The name used in the Bahá'í writings for Houses of Worship is Mashriqu'l-Adhkár (Template:ArB "Dawning-place of the Mention of God"). All Bahá'í temples share certain architectural elements, only two of which are specified by Bahá'í scripture: that they are nine-sided and surmounted by a dome. To date all the temples built or planned have a single, undivided room under the dome. In all seven, the seats in the auditorium face the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh in `Akká, Israel.

The seven existing Houses of Worship were built as the Bahá'í community could support their construction. While each are unique, they express local design and culture, to a greater or lesser degree, in their selection of materials, landscaping and architecture.

Bahá'í Houses of Worship are open to people of all faiths - or of no particular faith. Services focus solely on the worship of God, with readings from scriptures, and without collections or sermons. The only instrument used in the temple is the human voice, and the choir in any Bahá'í House of Worship sings a capella.

There are no collections during services. Only Bahá'ís are permitted to contribute to the Bahá'í Funds, including funds for the construction and maintenance of the House of Worship.

These temples are the key element of a complex of facilities such as schools, hospitals, homes for the elderly, and other social and humanitarian institutions to serve the areas in which they are located.[1] To Bahá'ís there is no particular division between the spiritual and practical parts of life; `Abdu'l-Bahá taught that humans should walk the spiritual path with practical feet.

The Shrine of the Báb and other buildings at the Bahá'í World Centre are not Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs, although tourists often mistakenly refer to the Shrine as a Bahá'í temple.

History

`Ishqábád, Turkmenistan

First Bahá'í House of Worship

The first Bahá'í Temple was completed in 1908[2] in the city of `Ishqábád, then ruled by Russia and now the capital of Turkmenistan. Its chief builder was Vakílu'd-Dawlih, who was later named as one of the nineteen Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh.

`Ishqábád is located in the desert plain of western Turkmenistan near the foothills of the Alborz Mountains. Under the protection and freedom given by the Russian authorities, the number of Bahá'ís there rose to over 1,000 and for the first time anywhere in the world a true Bahá'í community was established, with its own schools, medical facilities, cemetery, etc. Eventually the Bahá'ís in `Ishqábád decided to build the institution of the spiritual and social heart of the Bahá'í community: the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár.

The Temple itself was surrounded by gardens. At the four corners of the garden were four buildings: a school, a hostel where traveling Bahá'ís were entertained, a small hospital, and a building for groundskeepers. The Bahá'ís lived as much as possible in proximity to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár. It was the center of the community materially, as well as spiritually.

The temple was confiscated by the Soviet authorities in 1928 and leased back to the Bahá'ís. This lasted until 1938, when it was fully secularized by the communist government and turned into an art gallery. A 1948 earthquake rendered the building unsafe, and it was demolished in 1963.

Existing structures

There are currently seven Bahá'í Houses of Worship, with an eighth under construction.

Chicago (Wilmette), Illinois USA

Bahá'í House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois.

Designed by Louis Bourgeois, the Bahá'í Temple in Wilmette, Illinois, was completed in 1953; the Wilmette House of worship is the largest and the oldest surviving Bahá'í Temple. The Mother Temple of the United States, it stands in north suburban Chicago, on the shores of Lake Michigan. The cladding is made out of white portland cement concrete with both clear and white crystalline quartz aggregate. It has received numerous design awards, and is a prominent Chicago-area landmark. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Like some other Bahá'í temples, the Wilmette temple has a gallery balcony from which the Temple choir usually performs, providing for ambient music.

Flights arriving to O'Hare International Airport often fly directly over the temple, giving passengers a unique view on approach or departure.

The temple at one point also was associated with a "home for the aged", operated by the U.S. Bahá'í community. The Bahá'í Home has since closed.[3]

Kampala, Uganda

Bahá'í House of Worship, Kampala, Uganda.

The Mother Temple of Africa is situated on Kikaya Hill on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda, designed by Charles Mason Remey. Its foundation stone was laid in January 1958, and was dedicated on 13 January 1961.

Sydney (Ingleside), Australia

Bahá'í House of Worship, Sydney, Australia.

The Temple in Sydney, Australia was completed in 1961, designed by Charles Mason Remey. It was constructed of local hardwoods and concrete surmounted by a dome and is capable of accommodating up to six hundred people. It is set high in a natural bushland setting of 380,000 square metres in Ingleside, a northern suburb overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This Temple serves as the Mother Temple of Australia.

In 2005-2006 this temple was threatened by nearby forest fires which approached--but never reached--the temple grounds.

Frankfurt (Langenhain-Hofheim), Germany

Bahá'í House of Worship, Langenhain, Germany

The Mother Temple of Europe is located at the foot of the Taunus Mountains of Germany, in the village of Langenhain, in the Frankfurt suburb of Hofheim, Hesse. The design was made by Teuto Rocholl. It was completed in 1964 and is constructed of steel, aluminum and glass. Five hundred and forty diamond-shaped windows give the dome an optical lightness and permit the sunlight to play in it. The outstanding characteristic acoustics of this setting are created by the reverberation within the dome and the resonance of its myriad window ledges. Choirs here sometimes sing while standing around the circumference of the temple floor, with the audience in the center.

Currently there are plans to construct a home for the aged as the first dependency of this House of Worship.

Panama City, Panama

Bahá'í House of Worship, Panama City, Panama.

The Bahá'í temple in Panama City, Panama, completed 1972, designed by Peter Tillotson. It serves as the mother temple of Latin America. It is perched on a high cliff, "Cerro Sonsonate" ("Singing Hill") overlooking the city, and is constructed of local stone laid in a pattern reminiscent of Native American fabric designs.

The dome is covered with thousands of small oval tiles, and the entrance gates of the temple are constructed in a unique three-dimensional design each consisting of an equilateral triangle of three vertical posts with multiple rows of bars stretching between them at various angles, each row of which gradually changes from vertical to horizontal.

Tiapapata, Samoa

File:Bahai-apia.jpg
Bahá'í House of Worship, Tiapapata, Samoa

The Bahá'í Temple in Tiapapata, 8 km from Apia, Samoa was completed in 1984 and serves as the Mother Temple of the Pacific Islands. The design was by Hossein Amanat, and was dedicated by Malietoa Tanumafili II, King of Samoa, who is the first reigning Bahá'í monarch. Its 30 meter dome is used for individual prayer, and holy day celebrations, and weekly devotions. The structure is completely open to the island breezes.

Delhi, India

The Bahá'í House of Worship in Delhi, India

The Bahá'í temple in Delhi, India was completed in 1986 and serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian Subcontinent. It has won numerous architectural awards and been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. The architect was Fariborz Sahba from Canada.

Inspired by the lotus flower, its design is composed of 27 free-standing marble clad "petals" arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides.

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) 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 the most visited building 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).

This House of Worship is generally referred to as the "Lotus Temple" by Bahá'ís and non-Bahá'ís alike.

Planned construction

The Universal House of Justice has chosen 120 sites for future houses of worship.[5] These are a few of the most notable.

Tehran, Iran

A proposed Bahá'í House of Worship, Tehran, Iran

While a site has been selected, and plans drawn for the Bahá'í Temple of Teheran, Iran, the construction or planned construction for such a temple is impossible in the current political situation in Iran.

Upon the request of Shoghi Effendi, Charles Mason Remey provided a design for this House of Worship, but it was not approved before the death of Shoghi Effendi.

Santiago, Chile

The night view of a model of the new Bahá'í House of Worship soon to be constructed in Chile.

In late 2002, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Chile and the Universal House of Justice announced a competition for the design of the mother temple of South America, to be built outside Santiago. The selection chosen was designed by Siamak Hariri of Toronto, Canada. [6]

Its sides will be composed of translucent panels of alabaster and cast glass. The interior structure will be a lattice structure of steel supporting the inside of the upper dome.

Haifa, Israel

Obelisk marking the position of the future Bahá'í House of Worship, Mount Carmel, Israel, Haifa, Israel

A site has been selected for a Bahá'í Temple in the vicinity of the Bahá'í World Centre on Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel. It is near the spot where Bahá'u'lláh chanted the Tablet of Carmel, the "Charter of the World Spiritual and Administrative Centers of the Faith on that mountain" according to Shoghi Effendi. A design by Charles Mason Remey was approved by Shoghi Effendi. In August 1971 the Universal House of Justice erected an obelisk on the site, on the side of which is the Greatest Name.

Other sites

As of 1963, sites in the following cities had also been chosen for future temples; [7]

Notes

  1. ^ `Abdu'l-Bahá (1978). Selections From the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá (Hardcover ed.). Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. pp. pp. 65. ISBN 0853980810. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  2. ^ http://www.bahai.us/bahai-temple-ashkabad
  3. ^ Village of Wilmette, Illinois (December 14, 2004). "Affordable Housing Plan" (pdf). Retrieved 2004-02-14.
  4. ^ Baha'i Community of Canada
  5. ^ Official Bahá'í Website temple information page
  6. ^ Toronto architect Siamak Hariri ascends to architectural greatness
  7. ^ Information Statistical and Comparative, Including the Achievements of the Ten Year International Bahá'í Teaching & Consolidation Plan 1953-1963

References

  • Badiee, Julie (1992). An Earthly Paradise, Bahá'í Houses of Worship around the World. George Ronald, Oxford, UK. ISBN 085398316X..
  • Smith, Peter (2000). A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oneworld Publications, Oxford, England. ISBN 1851681841.
  • Whitmore, Bruce W. (1984). The Dawning Place: The Building of a Temple, the Forging of the North American Bahá'í Community. Bahá'í Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Illinois, USA. ISBN 0877431922.
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