Everything you need to know before visiting the Bahai temple

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Since it opened in Penalolen and more than a thousand meters high, this place has become a hit for its spectacular view of Santiago and incredible architecture.

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Since its inauguration in 2016 more than one million visitors have visited the Bahai temple in Chile. In fact, according to official figures, some 50,000 people arrive there monthly, especially on weekends. And how not, if this house of adoration and meditation of the Bahai faith from Iran, is the only one in South America, has a spectacular architectural design and a privileged view of Santiago. In that case, going to know it and touring its huge gardens has become almost an obligation.

One of the requirements to build one of these temples is that it is in a beautiful natural environment, but also easily accessible to people. Although the Chilean is in the foothills - exactly in the Nido de Aguila ravine more than a thousand meters high - all those who wish to visit it can do so by public transport.


Templo Bahai Chile

This, because Diagonal Las Torres, the street where it is located, passes more than 10 lines of buses, including 506, 507, 511, 516, 517, D10, D11, and D03 that will leave you at the entrance of the place. There you will have no choice but to take a deep breath and begin to cheerfully ascend the kilometers between the entrance and the official door. Now, if you prefer to go by car, you have to know that there are free parking lots, as well as cyclists to leave the bike.


Templo Bahai Chile

Bahai temple architecture
Since the 1950s there is the idea of ​​building a Bahai prayer house in Chile. This, because a decade earlier had begun to profess this faith and with enough adherence among nationals.

If you have not yet gone or if you intend to do it again, you must know that it took six years to complete it and that its shape is unique: it is 30 meters high and nine parts that cover its circular base, which was made with glass and marble Translucent brought from a Portuguese quarry. They did so, especially so that in the day natural light always illuminates the room to which you must enter in silence and not take any pictures, so as not to interrupt those who are meditating in banks located in a semicircle.

Asimismo, en la noche la luz del interior (provista de lámparas) sale del templo e ilumina el exterior con un resplandor suave, tal como si fuera una pantalla de una lámpara.
Por supuesto que esta obra arquitectónica de la oficina canadiense Hariri Pontarini Architectes ha sido reconocida con varios galardones, entre ellos el Premio Internacional de Arquitectura que otorgó el Museo de Arquitectura y Diseno de EE.UU, el 2017.

Going through its gardens
Eye, if you are going to cross it you must know that the parking is at the official entrance (approximately one km from the entrance of Diagonal Las Torres) and, from there, you will have to climb more than 150 steps to reach the cult center or make a Longest route along the road with a little climb that was built for people with disabilities. In total there are 11 hectares of land where it is located and six of them are beautiful gardens, which are also used to meditate, therefore you can not smoke or eat in them.


Templo Bahai Chile

The landscaper was the Chilean Juan Grimm, the same from the garden of the winery Errázuriz vineyard, and there are nine roads you can visit (all lead to the temple) feeling the song of the birds and walking among endemic flora, as ruuda, peumos, liters and quillayes, and another more exotic, like the magnolia. The best?

Each of the corners of your garden more than 1000 meters high has an incredible view of Santiago. So much so that you will identify city landmarks, such as the Metropolitan Park and the Costanera Center. And if you want, you can also sit down to rest or eat a small cocaví at the camping tables that are at the entrance, where you can also visit the library open to the public that they have there.