Baháʼí House of Worship

About this audio guide

This guide to the Baha'i House of Worship in Chicago follows the design of its nine walled gardens, laid out so visitors keep moving rather than settle onto a bench, and the vision of architect Louis Bourgeois, who spent decades trying to capture the world's religions as overlapping circles. You'll hear about the Persian walled gardens that inspired the layout, and the concrete-and-quartz technique devised by mason John Earley to make the dome catch light. Bourgeois died in 1930, more than two decades before the temple was dedicated in 1953.