page_title: Sydney Baháʼí Temple
section_title: Building and grounds
hierarchical_section_title: Sydney Baháʼí Temple / Building and grounds
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of the Baha'i House of Worship, Sydney
context_page_description: The Sydney Baháʼí House of Worship or Sydney Baháʼí Temple is situated in Ingleside, a northern suburb of Sydney, Australia. According to Jennifer Taylor, a historian at Sydney University, it is among Sydney's four most significant religious buildings constructed in the twentieth century. It was the world's fourth Baháʼí House of Worship to be constructed, completed in 1961. Shoghi Effendi, head of the Baháʼí Faith when the House of Worship was designed, called it the "Mother Temple of the whole Pacific area" and the "Mother Temple of the Antipodes." Every year, over 20,000 domestic and foreign visitors frequent the House of Worship.
context_section_description: On the ground floor of the temple is a main auditorium with seating for six hundred people, encircled by a gallery. From there, nine doors open onto the grounds at equal angles, as in all Baháʼí Houses of Worship, signifying the unity of the world's religions. The second level features windows of Palladian style that illuminate the building's interior. A ribbed dome rises above them, spanning 20 metres horizontally and reaching 38 metres above ground level at its highest point. There is a lantern perched on top of the dome, which was placed there by a helicopter during the construction. Construction materials include crushed quartz, local hardwoods in the interior, and concrete and marble in the dome.
  The temple is a highly visible landmark as it occupies the highest point above Sydney's Northern Beaches region, overlooking the Pacific coast at Mona Vale. It is on Mona Vale Road, set in an area of natural bushland included in an Indigenous Protected Area. The surrounding gardens contain a variety of native Australian flora including waratahs, three species of eucalypts, caleyi and other grevillea, acacia, and woody pear. Other amenities located on the site include a visitors' centre, a bookshop, a picnic area, and the administrative offices of the Australian Baháʼí community. When the number of Australian Baháʼís becomes sufficient to sustain them, humanitarian centres for education, welfare, and other purposes will be established around the temple.
caption: Interior of the Baháʼí House of Worship
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