Lotus Temple
Twenty-seven marble petals, grouped in threes, fold into a single hall where any person of any faith walks in without condition.
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Iranian architect Fariborz Sahba arranged 27 free-standing marble-clad petals in clusters of three to form nine sides and nine doors. The central hall rises over 34 metres and seats 1,300. Sacred writings from any religion may be read or chanted aloud inside — the architecture and the Baháʼí faith it embodies are both structurally built for everyone.
What to look for
- The 27 marble petals in clusters of three — walk the perimeter and count all nine groups
- Nine doors, each aligned to one of the nine sides formed by those petal clusters
- The central vault rising to slightly over 34 metres — a single open hall with no divisions or assigned seating
Open to all regardless of religion, gender, or background; no religious affiliation required. More than 10,000 people visited on opening day, 1 January 1987.
Lotus Temple is one of 35 sights worth the detour in Delhi, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Delhi pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Delhi
- Red FortThe ramparts where Jawaharlal Nehru raised India's flag on 15 August 1947 still host that ceremony every Independence Day.
- Qutb MinarSuccessive dynasties handed this tower off across 170 years — Aibak started it in 1199, Firuz Shah Tughlaq capped it with a cupola in 1368.
- Humayun's TombThe red-sandstone ancestor of the Taj Mahal — commissioned by an empress, designed by Persian architects, and finished a century before Agra.
- Jama MasjidShah Jahan built his imperial mosque at the highest point of Shahjahanabad — the Mughal capital — and it was regarded as a symbolic gesture of Mughal power across India.
- India GateAround 13,300 names carved in stone — soldiers lost across Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, and the Afghan frontier.
- Rashtrapati BhavanThe world's largest official residence by floor area — outranking even Brunei's Istana Nurul Iman — stands at the end of Rajpath.