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Baha'i Houses of Worship...

arthra

Baha'i
I thought I'd share a film on the Baha'i Houses of Worship …. All Baha'i Houses of Worship have nine entrances and there are now several Houses of Worship . In the beginning from around 1912 they were built as continental places of worship but lately there have been national and local Houses of Worship as well...

In time there are various dependencies that can be added to the Houses of Worship including those with educational and social service purposes.

There are some fairly good architectural renderings of the first Houses of Worship. The film is in German.

 

arthra

Baha'i
This time in English I found an excellent site on the Emergence of the House of Worship at

The Bahá’í World Publication

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"....any soul may enter, inhale the heavenly fragrances, experience the sweetness of prayer, meditate upon the Creative Word, be transported on the wings of the spirit, and commune with the one Beloved. In a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, worship is likewise without ritual or set patterns, and the object is the same. As Shoghi Effendi wrote, the more universal and informal the character of Bahá’í worship in the Temple the better. Sacred scriptures from the Bahá’í Faith and other religions are read or chanted; there is no sermon or lecture, no collection of funds, no instrumental music, and no segregation for any reason such as sex, religion, or caste. Likewise, as service to humanity is an element of Bahá’í life in communities everywhere, no matter what their size or means, in communities where a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár emerges, the purpose of its dependencies is to systematize the facilitation of service to the common good by providing centres of education and scientific learning as well as cultural and humanitarian endeavour and by promoting the application of knowledge to serve social and spiritual progress."
 

arthra

Baha'i
I had a friend who submitted a design for a Baha'i House of Worship in Papua New Guinea but it was turned down.. nonetheless I hope it may be adopted later somewhere... The following design was recently accepted for the design of the Baha'i House of Worship in Papua New Guinea:

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March‎ ‎20‎, ‎2018
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PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — In a historic event earlier today, the design for the national Baha’i House of Worship of Papua New Guinea (PNG) was unveiled. The House of Worship will be one of two national Baha’i temples to be constructed in the world in the coming years, signifying a new milestone for the Baha’i world community.

Some five hundred people gathered at the temple site in the capital city, Port Moresby, to honour this unprecedented occasion, which was celebrated at Naw-Ruz, the Baha’i New Year.

Traditional music and dance from representatives of various regions of the country imbued the celebration with joy and excitement. A group from Madina village, home of the first indigenous Bahá’í in PNG, performed a sacred dance to mark the occasion.

The program began with the chanting of a Baha’i prayer by a small chorus of youth. “From the vantage point of this elevated position overlooking the Waigani valley and the buildings and commerce in the distance and feeling the cool breeze in the heat of the day, these words of God were poignant indeed,” described one of the participants.

Source:
https://news.bahai.org/story/1246/
 

arthra

Baha'i
Just to provide a current summary of the Baha'i Houses of Worship around the world I'm adding the following:

"The physical structure of a House of Worship comprises a central building—a House of Worship—along with several dependencies. While the House of Worship forms the focal point of worship in a geographical area, its purpose is not solely to provide a place for prayer. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained that, through the provision of education, healthcare and other services it is also to support the social and economic progress of the community and afford shelter, relief and assistance to those in need. In this connection, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá anticipated that subsidiary branches—such as a hospital, school, university, dispensary, and hospice—would gradually be added to a House of Worship. Bahá’u’lláh refers to the House of Worship as a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, Arabic for “dawning place of the mention of God.”

Bahá’í Houses of Worship are located in:

  • Wilmette, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1953.
  • Kampala, Uganda. Opened in 1961.
  • Sydney, Australia. Opened in 1961.
  • Frankfurt, Germany. Opened in 1964.
  • Panama City, Panama. Opened in 1972.
  • Apia, Samoa. Opened in 1984.
  • New Delhi, India. Opened in 1986.
  • Santiago, Chile. Opened in 2016.
  • Battambang, Cambodia. Opened in 2017.
  • Norte del Cauca, Colombia. Opened in 2018.
Plans are underway to build national Houses of Worship in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Papua New Guinea. Local Houses of Worship are also being constructed in Bihar Sharif, India; Matunda Soy, Kenya; and Tanna, Vanuatu. At the local level, meetings for worship are held regularly in Bahá’í centers and in the homes of believers all over the world.

https://news.bahai.org/media-information/houses-worship/
 
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