The architect of the Lotus Temple was an Iranian, Fariborz Sahba who now lives in La Jolla, California,[1] after spending some years in Canada.[2] He was approached in 1976 to design the Lotus Temple and later oversaw its construction. The structural design was undertaken by the British firm Flint and Neill over the course of 18 months,[3] and the construction was done by ECC Construction Group of Larsen & Toubro Limited[4][dead link] at a cost of $10.56 million.[5][6] The major part of the funds needed to buy this land was donated by Ardishír Rustampúr of Hyderabad, Sindh (Pakistan), whose will stipulated that his entire life savings would go towards the building of the temple.[7][page needed] A portion of the construction budget was saved and used to build a greenhouse to study indigenous plants and flowers that would be appropriate for use on the site.[8]

Rúhíyyih Khánum laid the foundation stone for the Lotus Temple on 19 October 1977 and dedicated the temple on 24 December 1986.[9] For the dedication, there was a gathering of 8,000 Baháʼís from 107 countries, including some 4,000 Baháʼís from 22 states in India. The temple was opened to the public on 1 January 1987 and more than 10,000 people visited that day.[10]