Bahá’í House of Worship | The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago with Geoffrey Baer

Bahá’í House of Worship

Towering 190 feet over Wilmette Harbor is the intricate, white-domed Bahá’í House of Worship, which was designed to emphasize the oneness of humanity and all religions under a single God. The Bahá’í faith was founded in the mid-1800s in present-day Iran. It was first introduced to the United States at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. Although it looks like elaborate lace, this house of worship in Wilmette is made of concrete infused with crushed quartz to give the building an added shimmer. Symbols from various faiths – including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism – are all molded into the building’s exterior, representing the faith’s belief of fellowship between all peoples. The temple has nine sides with nine doors, as well as nine gardens. In the Bahá’í faith, the number nine symbolizes unity, perfection, and completion as the highest single digit.