One of the most charming tourist spots of Delhi, the Lotus Temple is situated in the Bahapur Village of New Delhi. People visit the place for getting peace of mind, body, and soul. The temple is well known for the phase of utter silence that people witness inside the main hall of the temple. The temple is a Bahai House of Worship shaped in the form of a Lotus flower, open to people from every religion and aims at Uniting People to One Common Faith. There is no set particular pattern of worship and performing ritual acts and playing music is forbidden in the main hall. Lotus temple is one of the Seven Bahai Houses of Worship, the other six are located in different parts of the world.
History and Introduction of Lotus Temple-
- This beautiful piece of art, the Lotus Temple, was made by an Iranian architect named Fariborz Sahba, and he chose the lotus as shape as this flower is common to all religions.
- The construction of the temple got finished on 13 November 1986 and it was made open to the public’s service on 24 December 1986.
- A Bahai follower named Ardhishir Rustampur, from Hyderabad in the Sindh province of Pakistan, donated his entire savings to fund the land purchase of the temple
- According to a CNN report of 2001, it was the most visited building in the World and the temple won many awards for its architecture in later years.
The architecture of Lotus Temple-
- The temple is a House of Worship that is based on the Expressionist style of architecture that relates to the European Expressionist Architectural Movement of early decades of the Twentieth century.
- The central hall of the temple has a seating capacity of around 2500 and people of every caste, creed, economical background, gender come here to worship and gain some peace in their lives.
- A short film explaining various religions is shown in the main hall at fixed intervals repeatedly.
- The structure comprises of the 27 marble plates standing to form the Nine sides of the temple.
- The total area of the premises is around 26 acres that include various ponds, gardens, footpaths, and the main Central Hall Structure.
- The height of the temple is 34.27 meters along with the diameter as 70 meters.
- The structure is designed in a way that it is the first temple in the national capital which uses Solar power.
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How to reach Lotus temple-
- ADDRESS-Lotus Temple Road, Bahapur, Kalkaji, New Delhi, PIN- 110019.
- Metro Station of Kalkaji is the nearest one to the Lotus Temple, about 1 km away. This station lies on the interchange of the Violet Line and the Magenta Line of Delhi Metro. The next nearest Metro Station is Nehru Place Metro Station which is about 1.4 km from the temple. This station lies on the Violet Line of Delhi Metro.
- From New Delhi Railway Station, the distance of Lotus Temple is about 15 km.
- The temple is around 21 kilometers from Indira Gandhi International Airport through the fastest route.
Timings-
- The opening hours of the temple are from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm during the months of October to March. In the rest of the months the timings are from 9:30 am to 7 pm.
- The temple remains CLOSED for the common public on Monday of every week.
- Another exciting thing there is a religious short film of about 20 minutes, shown from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm in repetitions.
- Prayer is also done inside the temple at different times of the day for 5 minutes spans and is dedicated to different religions.
Entry Fee-
No Entry Fee is charged to the visitors i.e. the Entry is totally FREE of Cost.
There are no Extra Camera charges but special permission is required for having photographs in the premises of the main temple.
Travel Tip-
The place is best suitable to go with family and click some awesome photographs with the ponds, gardens, lakes, flowers and the White Lotus Petals of the Temple. The average time to visit the place is around 1 hour, as on a normal day. So, this place shall be covered by the tourists along with other nearby tourist spots and markets that consume comparatively less time to visit. Some tourist attractions in close vicinity are Kailash Shiv Mandir, Bhairon Mandir, Kalkaji Mandir, District Park, and ISCON Temple. The evening view of the temple is very charming when the marble and water of nine ponds shine in the presence of lights. The place should be visited in the winter months of October to March to avoid exhaustion due to humidity in exploring the place.
An evening view of the temple. Image Source- Wikimedia Commons