SANTIAGO, Chile — On the outskirts of Santiago, in the foothills of the Andes, an extraordinary event took place in October 2016—the long-anticipated public dedication of the Baha’i House of Worship for South America and the last remaining continental Baha’i Temple to be constructed.
Some 500 guests from Chile, including senior figures from the government and civil society, as well as representatives from South, Central, and North America and the Caribbean, and further afield, gathered for the first of a series of opening ceremonies over the weekend of October 13, that brought more than 5,000 Baha’is from 110 countries beneath the House of Worship’s soaring dome.
Opening the dedication ceremony, Felipe Duhart—secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Chile—said that the desire of the Baha’is is that “the House of Worship will become the heart and nerve centre for this whole community,” and “a refuge for prayer.”
This role the House of Worship has as a “transcendental space that looks for unity and respect for all religious backgrounds” was emphasised by the representative of the President of Chile, Minister Secretary General Nicolás Eyzaguirre.
“It is a Temple which makes our landscape a more beautiful one,” he added. “It will become an icon and it will remind us how important it is to find the unity between the city and nature.”