How unique is the Baha'i Architecture ?

The Shrine of the Báb is a structure in Haifa, Israel (Palestine in 1909) where the remains of the Báb. `Abdu'l-Bahá planned the structure, which was designed and completed several years later by his grandson, Shoghi Effendi.

The architect was William Sutherland Maxwell, a Canadian Bahá'í who was a Beaux-Arts architect and the father-in-law of Shoghi Effendi. Shoghi Effendi provided overall guidance, including in the use of Western and Eastern styles, but left the artistic details to Maxwell.


Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, Russia is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral (sobor) in the city.

The church on St Isaac's Square was ordered by Tsar Alexander I, to replace an earlier Rinaldiesque structure. A specially appointed commission examined several designs, including that of the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand (1786–1858), who had studied in the atelier of Napoleon's designer, Charles Percier.