A Bahá'í Glossary - Bahá'í House of Worship

Third Bahá'í House of Worship - Continental
Kampala, Uganda, Africa
Mother Temple of Africa

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The Mother Temple of Africa situated on Kikaya Hill on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda, was designed by Charles Mason Remey. Its foundation stone was laid on 26 January 1958, and it was dedicated on 13 January 1961. The building is more than 130 feet high, and over 100 meters in diameter at the base. The dome, made up of lace-like tiles rises over 124 feet high and is 44 feet in diameter. The foundation goes 10 feet underground to protect it from earthquakes common in this part of the world. The green dome is made of fixed mosaic tiles from Italy, and the lower roof tiles are from Belgium. The walls of the temple are of pre-cast stone quarried in Uganda. The colored glass in the wall panels was brought from Germany. The fifty acre property includes the House of Worship, extensive gardens, a guesthouse, and an administrative center.

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House of Worship

In 1958 the land for the temple had to be bought in the name of three African Ugandan Bahá'ís rather than an institution directly foreign or domestic. These Bahá'ís were Joseph Mbogo, Erisha Kiwanuka and Max Kanyerezi who held the land in trust. The Bahá'í House of Worship in Uganda, named as the Mother Temple of Africa, is situated on Kikaya Hill on the outskirts of Kampala. At the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone in 1958 Hands of the Cause Ruhiyyih Khanum and Músá Banání presented material gifts for the building - some soil from the inner-most Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh and the fortress of Maku where the Báb was imprisoned. The building was designed by Mason Remey and the green dome is made of fixed mosaic tiles from Italy, the lower roof tiles are from Belgium, and the colored glass in the wall panels was brought from Germany. Nine massive columns, each two feet in diameter, support the great dome, itself forty-four feet in diameter at its base; while the two roofs are supported by two sets of twenty seven slightly smaller columns. The overall height is 127 ft., the internal diameter of the building is eighty four feet and the seating capacity is over 600. The inside of the dome is painted a pale blue; the rotunda, into which are set nine enormous windows and fifty-four small windows, all filled with green, amber and pale blue glass, is painted a brilliant white, while the columns and the lower walls are painted a very pale green. All this lends itself to an effect of lightness and airiness which is intensified by the large green and amber glass-filled grilles which stand on either side of the huge mvule doors.

The fifty-acre property includes the House of Worship, extensive gardens, a guest house, and an administrative center. In 1960 the Ugandan government built an access road out to the site of the templeand a Bugandan council of ministers came to see the building. Observances of Bahá'í Holy days are held and regular services are normally held about 4 pm on Sunday afternoons. By the end of 1965 an estimated 50,000 visitors had come to the temple.Both Hands of the Cause Enoch Olinga and Músá Banání are buried near the Temple.

Dedication

Festivities associated with the opening of the temple were wide-ranging through early 1961. The Ugandan government publication Uganda Argus covered the history and description of the temple in the January 1961 issue and interviews and stories ran on the Ugandan Broadcasting service on radio. Events on site began on the 13th with a unity feast with Hands of the Cause Musa Banani, John Robarts, Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir and Chairman of the regional assembly Ali Nakhkajvani and vice-chairman O]oro Epyeru giving talks. The temple was dedicated on 14th led by Hand of the Cause Ruhiyyih Khanum where there was a viewing of portraits of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. And the public inaugural service was held on the 15th. Over 1500 people attended. Among the Bahá'ís were some 225 African Bahá'ís from Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Ruanda Urundi, Ethiopia, Northern Rhodesia, Swaziland, and South Africa; some 90 Persian Baha'is, sixty-two of whom flew from Tehran; the British national assembly, the mother assembly to that of Central and East Africa, sent one believer from each of its regions - England, Scotland and Wales, as well as one from Ireland; the American national assembly sent one of its members, Amos Gibson, himself a pioneer among the American Indian peoples. Hand of the Cause Enoch Olinga was unable to attend due to political turmoil in Cameroon Olinga was attempting to help them with. A choir, especially selected from among Kampala's singers and directed by Peter Wingard of Makerere College sang music and readings offered were from the Old and New Testaments and the Qur'an, plus a number of prayers and readings from the Bahá'í writings in Arabic, Persian, Ateso, Swahili, Acholi, Luganda and English. Following the public meeting a reception was held for representatives of the Governor and the Kabaka of Buganda, together with the Mayor of Kampala at which Ruhiyyih Khanum shared a story that Shoghi Effendi had traveled through the region in the early 1920s. Following the dedication Ruhiyyih Khanum and chairman Nakhkajvani embarked on 15 days of visiting Bahá'ís through Uganda and Kenya including staying in their homes, dedicating two schools, ate native food, and were honored with traditional songs and dances. Khanum suggested repeatedly that the Ugandan's own folklore, their traditions and their native songs and music should not be discarded, but that in a society of unity in diversity they were to preserve and develop these as their contribution in enriching the spiritual and material life of human society as well as noting the equality of the sexes and that women should take equal part in administration of the religion.

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Photographs of the Third Bahá'í House of Worship - Continental
Kampala, Uganda, Africa
Mother Temple of Africa