Bahá’u’lláh designated Bahá’í Houses of Worship as spiritual gathering places for prayer and meditation around which will cluster social, humanitarian, educational, and scientific institutions. So far, seven Houses of Worship have been built – the auxiliary institutions have not yet been established. Many more temples are envisioned.

All the Houses of Worship have nine sides and a central dome, and are open to people of all religions for the worship of God. Devotional programs are simple, consisting of prayers, meditations, and the reading of selections from the sacred scriptures of the Bahá’í Faith and other world religions. Music is provided by unaccompanied choirs. There are no sermons or rituals.

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.

The next House of Worship to be established will be in Santiago, Chile.

(See Photographs section for a photo of the temple in India. Photos of other temples are available through the Baha’i Media Bank or by contacting the Office of Public Information.)