Bahá’í Temples
Thursday, 14th July 2005 by James Turnbull
The Bahá'í Faith is one of the youngest of the world's major religions. There are currently seven Bahá'í Houses of Worship in various parts of the globe, although we can only find two of them available in high-res satellite shots.
Our first temple is in Wilmette, Illinois USA and one submitter noted that it resembles a big egg from the ground.
The second Bahá'í Temple available on Google Maps is also the most famous, The Lotus Temple in New Delhi apparently holds the title of "most visited edifice in the world", designed to resemble a lotus flower it is composed of 27 free-standing marble clad "petals" and is just over 40 meters tall.
Thanks: Joe Chin, Artem Koronkevitch, Sathish, Saikat Guha, Ashutosh Rajekar, Jay Hinde, Rob B, Tom, Eamon, Esquif & Ananya Gupta
I am pleasantly surprised at hte Bahai Temple s web site and find it has plenty of information about the Bahai Faith in adition to the pictures.
Thank yolu Google you are all doing a wonderful job in this search engine that I use frequently for so many things.
God Bless You All “The earth is but One country and mankind its citizens” Baha
ullahDianne (Secretary for the Kingston upon Thames Bahai community UK)
Awesome! I had already found the Wilmette temple but I had no clue the New Delhi temple was online. The Baha’i World Centre in Israel is also available, but the image is low-res so it’s little more than a blur.
The Sydney temple is not in Hi Res… it is that little glitch in the centre of
View Placemark (I’m pretty sure)
It is on the Mona Vale road, you can see a lot of Tips (trash heaps) around the area
Cool! I was at the Bahai temple in New dehli two years ago. Fun to see it from this angle. It was a bright and shiny place I remember. It looks kinda bleak from space like that.
Wow! This caught my breath..
I toured that temple in Illinois in ’87. Very cool.
Sorry to end this lovefest. Dianne quote: “The earth is but One country and mankind its citizensâ€? Dianne, does that include the terrorists who would kill you in a heartbeat. Clicking dianne’s name takes you to the Bahai website….in the UK. how ironic.
Come on Google…update your world scans 🙂
I couldn’t pass up this /op/ to be in on the blogging.
I wonder if one day I’ll see borla in Akko 🙂 or Ibn Al-Muqaffa in Haifa 🙂
p.s. I’m a Baha’i too 🙂
Bill, I would say yes. It does include them also. Everyone has the potential to be good. We just have to work HARD on it. VERY HARD.
Cheers!
I think its intended that you can zoom closer to Haifa. I’m assuming for security reasons Israel wont let them.
Dear friends, I served at the Baha’i House of Worship in Delhi, India twice — once in 1992 and another time in 1997/98. Lovely place! It’s a miracle of architecture. Yup, I’m a Baha’i too!
Bill, if I may add to Diane’s quote: Baha’u’llah tells us “Do not be content with friendship alone. Let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path.” Like Hayder said, we need to work HARD on it. VERY HARD. 🙂
Hugs! 🙂
Wow! How exciting is this? What has God wrought? Just 2 words from God “To be” and look what happens.
hi these temples r places where all hearts bcome one and v can see how equality of all humankind and all races bcom evident…saw the temple in frankfurt too..n gonna go 2 the dehli one soon…gonna visit all of them if god willing i am a bahai too through and through…dats my pride and my identity ‘unite the hearts of all mankind’ dats wat we the bahai live by tc all have fun hugs
This is wonderful! Thanks, Google! Seeing the temples from above is so cool! I haven’t gotten to visit any yet (yes, I’m a Baha’i, too) but, Inshallah, I will!! And to Bill, the Baha’i writings also say, “Let us pray for eyes to see and ears to hear, and for hearts that long for peace.” Thank God that science is finally catching up and discovering that mankind IS one!!
Wonderfull links! What about European and German temples. Can anyone find them? Baha’i greetigs from Portugal.
You will notice that some of the gardens around the temple in Wilmette, IL, are not the usual resplendant green but rather look like building sites. This is because they are, the house of worship in Wilmette has been undergoing several renovations to the foundations in recent years. There are also plans to relocate the visitor centre (currently located beneath the temple) to a location near the car park.
you can see the european house of worship in google earth but you have to really look for it (near Hofheim, Germany). I don’t think it’s on google maps yet.
i can just say its coooooooooooooooooool enjoy bye
Actually i’ve found the baha’i temple in Germany too with google earth
The House of Worship in Wilmette is really beautiful 🙂 You have to see it for yourself to really understand what I mean. In spring the tulips are blooming in bright reds and golds and water sparkles from the fountains. Robins fly overhead singing sweet melodies. The tall and intricately carved exterior which has all of the symbols for each religion can be both exciting and humbling at the same time. Entering inside gives you a sense of awe, stillness and peace. So go see it for yourself – you’ve only got 1 life and there is so much to see. Dont rely on the web or tv to tell you all you need to know 🙂 It’s knowledge and understanding that bring people together after all (whether its race or religious background or gender that is separating them). So go out and learn, investigate, search for the truth and you will surely find it! 🙂
Found the Syney House of Worship. Not a very high res and I can’t figure out how to post it, but here’s the co-ordinates 33 degrees, 39’33.05″ S 151 degrees 13’46.84″ E
Have fun
Simply gr8 !
Hi again, dear friends. Cellphone internet access has just hit Tanzania, where I am, and it was lovely re-reading all your comments on our beautiful Baha’i Houses of Worship. Any new stuff come up since then? Any new exciting discoveries? Please share! Hugs to everyone… 🙂
On this page are Google Earth links to all of the Baha’i temples:
http://www.javierduhart.cl/templos/
Enjoy!
Javier.
Beautiful structure of Bahai faith, but see now whats wrong going on by trustee be……
The Delhi High Court today stayed the arrest of the trustees and management committee members of Delhi’s Lotus temple, till September 25 on a complaint registered with theDelhiPolice.
Justice A K Sikri directed the Economic Offence Wing(EOW) of the Delhi Police not to arrest the trustees and management committee members of the Lotus temple, founded by the Bahai faith, till the next date of hearing.
Trial Judge Kamini Lau, on the complaint of some of the former employees of the temple, had directed the Delhi Police to lodge a complaint against the trustees and management committee members who were allegedly involved in smuggling of classified defence documents, hawala transactions and religious conversions.
The trustees and members, some of them from Iran, also procured about 80 Indian passports by submitting false address proof, Counsel S S Tripathy and Sandeep Jain said.
Incidentally, Zina Sorabjee, the wife of former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee, is one of the trustees of the Lotus Temple, a tourist attraction in the capital.
Senior Counsel K K Sud appearing for the Bahai temple sought direction of the Court for quashing the FIR.
After lodging an FIR, the Delhi Police arrested Iranian Payam Shoghi from Indira Gandhi International Airport while fleeing from the country to Columbia on August 16.
The police had lodged the complaint against nine beneficiaries which included trustees and members of the managing committee.
The news above has been invented by the press, backed by Iran, who is angry that the world is now aware of the opression the Baha’is suffer in Iran.
i am a bahai 4m malaysia. i wish that this web site can also insert the pictures of the holy land in haifa. The pictures really makes me happy everytime i look at it.
I live close to the wilmette temple
The Wilmette temple needed a huge overhaul not too many years ago to keep it from simultaneously sinking into the lake and falling on people’s heads. It was built when – in the 1920’s? It might last longer if they rebuilt the whole thing with styrofoam cups and superglue.
My point is, every time a Baha’i points out some human failing, from the treasurer of the US NSA to a Presidential Hopeful, the majority of Baha’is are trained to attack the whistle blower with every sleazy gimmick they can find. We truth tellers are “angry!” or “profoundly mentally disturbed!” or, worst of all, “envious” of Baha’is who happen to hold Baha’i administrative titles. There are probably more Baha’is excommunicated because they found and told the truth about historical facts, or refused to remain silent in the face of illegal or immoral behavior in the community, than ever actually transgressed a commandment.
The shame of it is, the founder, Baha’u’llah, might well be the Return of Them All, but who is going to swallow it when they’re forced to spout the party lines just as readily as any North Korean or Burmese who wants to live another day. This is not what Baha’u’llah wrote. Not at all. The Temple was designed to elevate and entertain the mind, not be a vehicle for superstition and fear. It’s become a tool in the hands of a top-heavy religious adminstration that makes its own rules and dares anyone calling themselves Baha’i to give up their mind and conscience to that adminstration.
Somewhere along the way the Baha’i administrators got the idea that they are the heirs of infallibility and the future rulers of the planet. Yes, the temples are lovely, but they are mortar and clay. They possess no magic; they are merely beautiful. Men are the makers of magic, God the author of beauty. I choose beauty, I choose God.