Bahá’í World/Volume 13/The Completion of the International Archives

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THE COMPLETION OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES

I I I I By AMATU’L-BAHA RUHIYYIH KHANUM

THE major criterion of beauty is proportion. The sense of this was one of Shoghi Effendi’s strongest characteristics, apparent in all the work he achieved throughout his thirty—six years of Guardianship. Whether in the relationship of certain guiding fundamental concepts formulated in the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith, which he elaborated and built up into the present-day Administrative Order, or in the monuments and buildings he erected, or in the distinguished and highly original gardens he himself laid out, or in the interior arrangement of the various Holy Places at the World Centre, this unfailing instinct of the proper relationship of one thing to another, the balance that delights the mind and eye, is constantly revealed.

Inspired by the words of Bahá’u’lláh in His Tablet of Carmel, which he interpreted as having not only a spiritual but also a material significance, Shoghi Effendi conceived the idea of a monumental administrative centre on Mt. Carmel. When the eldest daughter of Bahá’u’lláh, she who had been designated by Him as “a leaf that hath sprung from this pre-existent Root”, was interred in 1932 not far from the Shrine of the Báb, the Guardian devoted himself to the beautification of her resting-place. Remembering how often she had expressed the wish to be buried near her mother, he decided to bring her mother and brother, who had been laid to rest outside the city walls of ‘Akká, to be reunited with her on Mt. Carmel and accordingly, in 1939, the remains of these two holy souls were exhumed and transferred to Haifa. It was then that the Guardian indicated to the Bahá’í world that this “consecrated Spot” was destined to become “the focal centre of Bahá’í Administrative Institutions at the World Centre”, the powerful spiritual nucleus around which a series of impressive buildings would be erected. What was in fact a cemetery became, in keeping with the profound Bahá’í

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conviction of the immortality of the soul of man, an enchanting garden, filled with an atmosphere of life, of love and of sanctity. These graves of the close relatives of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were designated by Shoghi Effendi as “blessed shrines” and constituted henceforth a place of pilgrimage for the faithful. Here those who, after His beloved eldest Son and Successor, were nearest to Bahá’u’lláh in spirit and dearest to Him in kin, are entombed. First and foremost comes Bahíyyih Khánum, His eldest daughter, upon whom, He declared, He had conferred “a station such as none other woman hath surpassed in His court” and to whom He tenderly wrote “how sweet to gaze upon thy face” and of whose love for her Father ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had testified that “moth—like she circled in adoration round the undying flame of the Divine Candle, her spirit ablaze and her heart consumed by the fire of His love ...” and whom He more than once addressed as “My sister and beloved of My soul!”

Not far from the Greatest Holy Leaf rests Mihdi, the Purest Branch, the martyred son of Bahá’u’lláh, of whom He wrote at the time of his death: “I have, 0 My Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given Me, that Thy servants may be quickened and all who dwell on earth be united”; who, He declared, was “the trust of God and His treasure in this land”; and whose shadow is indeed mighty, for of him his Father says: “Great is thy blessedness and the blessedness of them that hold fast unto the hem of thy outspread robe . . .” And last, beneath a twin monument marking her grave and beside her son, she of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote: “For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called”; and whom Bahá’u’lláh Himself assured, in a Tablet addressed to her that “He hath made thee to be His companion in

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THE HEART OF THE WORLD ADMINISTRATIVE CENTRE OF THE Bahá’í FAITH The graves of the sister, mother and brother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’. constitute the spiritual nucleus of this centre. These beautiful Greek-inspired marble monuments lie just below the arc in front of the Archives, shown in the picture below.

THE GREAT ARC STRETCHING FROM EAST TO WEST

The design of the World Administrative Centre of the Bahá’í Faith is clearly shown

in this picture; on the extreme left is the International Archives Building; laid out in

front of it the semi—circular garden around which future administrative buildings will cluster. Because of the trees the monuments cannot be seen in this picture.

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wfifl‘;

émr. m. v _ , A V A v . PIVOTAL POINT OF THE ARC On the left are the monuments marking the graves of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mother, sister

and brother (not shown). On the long path, right side, are two palm trees which mark the beginning of the path which bisects the garden inside the are from north to south.

VIEW OF THE ARC

A path shaped like a bow encloses the beautiful gardens immediately in front of the International Archives Building. Between the rows of pompon shaped shrubs is the bisecting path. This photograph was taken from the roof of the building, looking east.

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THE Bahá’í WORLD

THE MOUNTAIN BEFORE THE ARCHIVES WAS BUILT

Beyond the large gate leading to the Shrine of the Báb is one of Haifa’s main roads. Two houses, demolished by Shoghi Effendi, are shown on the far side ofit.

every one of His worlds . . . empire shall endure.” Upon each of the graves of these holy souls Shoghi Effendi erected, in white Carrara marble, circular pillared and domed monuments, representing a Roman—renaissance adaptation in style of their prototype, the famous monument to Lysicrates which was built in Athens over two thousand years ago. Above them, on the steep incline of the mountain, he laid out a handsome, broad, sweeping are, more open in curve than a semi-circle, beyond which would be erected the future international administi‘ative buildings of a World Faith. Having thus envisaged a major architectural scheme, he followed his

so long as His

own fixed policy of commencing with the easiest and most feasible part of his plan first, In other words, although he contemplated a series of capacious buildings abutting on his are, a building for the institution of the Guardianship, one for the Universal House of Justice, one for the Hands of the Cause, a library, and others, he decided to commence with a suitable edifice to house the collection of sacred and historic relics and documents collected at the World Centre and at that time preserved in two separate places. He had two particular reasons for commencing with the International Archives Building, first a suitable place to exhibit and store them was needed, and second a building of this

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SHOGHI EFFENDI’S TRANSFORMATION OF MOUNT CARMEL

The completed Archives. The gate is to the left, but both this photograph and the one on the opposite page were taken from approximately the same position.

nature would be not only impressive and a great asset to the World Centre but would also be easier and cheaper to construct than would be, by their nature, the other contemplated buildings. Beyond these apparent reasons, no contemplative Bahá’í can doubt that there was a hidden significance as well, in view of the great changes the passing of Shoghi Effendi has brought about.

Shoghi Effendi, in addition to his innate and keen response to beauty, and particularly to proportion, was a great admirer of certain styles of architecture, first and foremost the Greek. He loved the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena erected on the Acropolis in Athensperhaps, in its prime, the single most beautiful

building ever built—and when the time came to order a design for his International Archives, he instructed Mr. Charles Mason Remey, a licencié of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, to copy the proportions of the Parthenon, with two clear exceptions in style: the capitals were to be of the Ionic and not the Doric order, and above the main entrance, in the tympanum, there was to be a sunburst with the Greatest Name. Typical of all Shoghi Effendi’s departures from traditional inhibitions, this somewhat Louis XIV sunburst, with the stylized Persian calligraphy in the centre of the sun, looks not only majestic but highly appropriate.

It was in the winter of 1952 that the

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TYMPANUM OF THE EAST FACADE OF THE ARCHIVES BUILDING The golden Greatest Name on the green central ground of the sunburst is surrounded by gilded carved stone rays.

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CI'IHOAA LYHVH EIHl.

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Guardian instructed Mr. Remey to make the design. He also furnished him with a photograph of amodel Of the Parthenon, which was to serve as a pattern for his building. At the Pilgrim House table, when Shoghi Effendi came to dinner, many evenings were taken up by a study of the drawings Mr. Remey would bring down and pin to the garden door of the dining room. Shoghi Effendi would half turn in his chair and study them, then point out things he wanted changed: a little higher there, a little thinner here, change this, change that. Invariably his sure eye brought the building into more perfect proportion. Although he preferred the Corinthian order to all others, he wished to have a change in the capitals of the columns of the Archives Building. As the capitals of the monuments chosen by him to mark the resting-places of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s family are Corinthian in style, and the capitals of the Shrine columns, although not pure Corinthian, are strongly reminiscent of the Corinthian order in silhouette, he chose the beautiful Ionic order for his new building. The Archives columns are a copy of the noblest columns in this style ever erected, those of the temple of Athena Nike. When the drawings for the outside of the building were satisfactory, its length of over thirty metres having' been specified by Shoghi Effendi himself, who had carefully studied the position it would occupy on the mountain side and had laid out the outline of its size in situ, the design for the inside was studied. There was no ambiguity in the mind of the Guardian about what he wanted. He was delighted with the vast stained—glass window at the back of the building, accepted the coldly formal, classic door frames and lintels, and the severe window trims, but said he wanted two narrow balconies running down the length of the building and, what is more, wanted two wooden railings on these; definitely, his choice was for bellied balusters, very Renaissance in form. Suggestions that, drawing from Greek motifs in a more severe style, he choose a railing in keeping with the rest of the building, fell on deaf ears. Shoghi Effendi knew what he wanted. A fine example of balustrade from an English mansion had been found in the architectural library of Mr. W. S. Maxwell (which proved equally useful in seeking inspiration from the Greek period) depicting

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a reproduction of the one designed by the famous Italian architect, Palladio, for. the villa “La Rotunda”, near Vicenza, and this was chosen as the model for the balconies. A stone balustrade was out of the question, owing to weight and the fact that the balconies were free standing and had to support not only a row of cabinets to house exhibits, but a number of people at the same time. Over and over those who might be termed experts were frustrated in their views by the “rightness” of Shoghi Effendi’s uninhibited taste. But more of this subject later.

Two things the Guardian refused to do: increase the size of the building or diminish the size of its exhibition hall. This posed the problem of access to the balconies, which was ingeniously overcome by creating a small vestibule at the entrance, allowing for two almost spiral staircases, one on either side, which were reached by a door on the main floor, and one on the balcony, immediately above it, with a small room, acting as a bridge from balcony to balcony, over the ceiling of the vestibule. In this way the full sweep of the single-room Archives was not interrupted nor the eye disturbed by functional problems; the main entrance door, as seen from the interior, with its massive carved stone lintel, was thus flanked by two narrow, superimposed doors on either side giving access to the balcony. The appearance of all four walls—the rear one with its immense window, flanked by Ionic pilasters; the two side ones with their balconies; and the front one with five doors and a narrow oblong window opening into the passage above the vestibule—thus remained monumental throughout.

While the order for the stone work of the International Archives Building was being executed in Italy, Shoghi Effendi was busy doing what, to his co-workers here, was unheard of : he was preparing the entire site of the building, on three sides, with gardens, paths, borders, hedges, trees and flower beds, exactly as if the building were already erected. He informed Mr. Ioas, who had been made responsible for overseeing its erection, that he would have to build the Archives coming in from the back, inserting it, one might almost say, in an oblong, all planted and completed, on three sides, with less than eight metres leeway (circa twenty-four feet) on each side to carry on the work!

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THE Bahá’í WORLD

TWO VIEWS OF THE NEW GARDENS ON MOUNT CARMEL

The straight path from east to west shown in the picture above forms the base of the

are which curves from the left up the side of the mountain and joins the path in front

of the Archives. It has the shape of a bow. Below: the gardens higher up the mountain

are reminiscent of a paisley design with swirls and curved paths embroidering the immense lawns. All were laid out by Shoghi Effendi himself.

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Immense star designs climb up the steep slope of the mountain above the Archives. This photograph was taken from the roof of the building.

The originality of the Guardian’s mind never ceased to stun and fascinate those who had the privilege of working for him, in however humble a capacity. There was already a usable, easily accessible dirt path with access from the main highway, which would enable materials to be brought in from the front; using it would have been the easiest, logical way to carry on building operations. It would also have meant that the surrounding gardens could not be planted until the building was completed, leaving, as in most construction work, a big new building with a flat, dirty surrounding on which it would take at least two years for any landscape gardening to grow and make a showing. The Guardian’s way, the beautiful Greek building seemed to drop into an already clean and mature setting, the trees and plants looking at home, with no bareness or incongruity to indicate it had not stood there for years.

To properly understand the construction of this truly unique museum one must review a little of the past. When Shoghi Effendi

announced to the Bahá’í world, on the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of the Báb, in 1944, that a model for the superstructure of the Báb’s Sepulchre had been unveiled, Palestine was approaching the end of the British Mandate. By the time all drawings had been completed sufficiently to place the order for a building heavily ornamented with carved stone-work, we were on the eve of not only the British leaving Palestine, but also of the war between the Arabs and the Jews which is now known as the War of Independence. Enquiries here made it plain that no contractor in the country was in a position to guarantee he could either deliver the stone—the quarries were near the frontier—or procure the workers to carve it at any foreseeable date. Because of this, the entire building was ordered in Italy. Every stone was cut, carved, assembled at the workshops to be sure the fit was perfect, numbered, and shipped to Israel for erection. As the International Archives Building was equally ornate, and the Guardian wished to

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REAR VIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES BUILDING

Note the sharp drop towards the north, necessitati'ng a high retaining wall, and the flight of steps leading to the back of the building.

FACADE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES

The path leading from the arc to the steps of the Archives. Note the charming effect of the two pairs of white marble vases placed at the foot of the staircase.

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build it of the same stone, he repeated the past procedure and ordered the work done in Italy. In addition to being assured of having the same quality in the execution of the work, Shoghi Effendi would also be able to have Dr. Giachery supervise the work in Italy, as he had already done in the case of the Shrine of the Báb, and it would still cost less, and be far more perfect, than if he tried to place the order in Israel. On this basis arrangements were made with the Israeli authorities to permit the import of this second building—for that is really what the project amounted to.

As early as 1952, on the eve of the launching of the Guardian’s Ten Year Plan of Teaching and Consolidation, which later became known as the “World Crusade”, he announced to the Bahá’ís, on October 8th, that one of the World Centre’s goals would be the “construction of the International Bahá’í Archives in the neighbourhood of the Báb’s Sepulchre.” He later explained that this major undertaking, which cost over a quarter of a million dollars, would “serve as the permanent and befitting repository for the priceless and numerous relics associated with the Twin Founders of the Faith, with the Perfect Exemplar of its teachings and with its heroes, saints and martyrs.”

There were many obstacles in the way, not the least of which was the purchase of a plot of land, small but in a key position, from a Covenant-breaker who was insisting on an exorbitant price. Shoghi Effendi wrote that “the truculence, greed and obstinacy” of this person had “raised, during more than thirty years, an almost insurmountable obstacle to the acquisition of this area” of a little less than half an acre. Thanks to the skilful negotiations carried out successfully on Shoghi Effendi’s behalf by Mr. Ioas, this plot was at last purchased and the way was open to develop the site of the Archives Building.

Meanwhile the approved design for the Archives was officially unveiled, at the instance of the Guardian, at the fourth and last of those Intercontinental Conferences which took place during the Holy Year, October 1952 — October 1953, commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the mystic revelation of His Mission to Bahá’u’lláh as He lay in chains in the Siyah-Qal, the subterranean dungeon of Tihran.

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In contrast to the days immediately following the end of the World War, the staff of the beloved Guardian in the Holy Land was now far more adequate than at any previous stage in his ministry. With the formation of the International Bahá’í Council, he was in a better position to embark on this major enterprise. The President of the International Bahá’í Council, the Hand of the Cause, Charles Mason Remey, was an architect trained in the old school, where strong emphasis was placed on the classics; the Secretary-General, Mr. Leroy C. Ioas, likewise a Hand of the Cause, was a capable and vigorous business man, able to oversee the work, meet with government and municipal authorities, and make all arrangements locally; Ugo Giachery, also a Hand of the Cause, Member-at—Large of that same Council, an Italian himself, residing in Italy, had already shown his flair for this type of work by overseeing the Italian end of the construction of the Shrine of the Báb. All these factors enabled Shoghi Effendi to proceed with speed and with the assurance that much of the load of such a large undertaking would rest on the capable shoulders of his co-workers. A local architect, Mr. S. Rosofl‘, was employed, and contracts were let for the excavation, and later for the reinforced concrete and other work carried on in Israel. At Naw-Rúz, 1955, the Guardian was able to “joyfully announce” to the Bahá’í world “the commencement of the excavation for the foundation of the International Archives heralding the rise of the first edifice destined to inaugurate the establishment of the seat of the World Bahá’í Administrative Order in the Holy Land.” From then on the work went ahead rapidly.

In contemplating the great arc which stretches, roughly from east to west on the side of Mt. Carmel, and lies like the periphery of a fan, about the rim of which the Administrative Centre will cluster, one must bear in mind the fact that the topography of the mountain involves different grades at different points. When Shoghi Effendi was deciding where the exact location of the Archives Building should be in relation to the arc, the main highway, and other future buildings, he began at first to place it higher up the mountain. By the time he had visualized its position, with poles put up at the corners

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ENTRANCE TO THE ARCHIVES The monumental doors leading into the building.

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STAINED—GLASS WINDOW AT THE REAR OF THE ARCHIVES BUILDING

The giant stained-glass window of 65 panels, with a repetitive design in red, amber and blue colours, set in the back wall. The window is almost as high as the columns shown on page 418.

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BUILDING THE ARCHIVES Note the finished landscape treatment.

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THE ARCHIVES TAKES SHAPE

Although only eight of the columns of the main facade were in position in January 1956, the building was already approached by a finished landscape treatment as shown in the above photograph.

and white earth or string marking the outlines of the building, first in one place and then another, he ended up considerably lower on the arc and nearer the main highway than he originally contemplated. As the Archives stands today, it repeats the effect so often seen in the original Greek temples—including the Parthenon—of being perched on an acropolis (i.e. high rock), with the flank of its northern foundation wall exposed to a height of over three metres and the dignified, wide marble staircase drawing the eye up to the forest of columns before the main door. The echo of the original Greek concept is breathtaking and fascinating, including the row of two pairs of white marble vases placed on the narrow platform before the commencement of the fifteen wide steps leading up to the podium, a treatment purely Greek in feeling, and arrived at, I am convinced, instinctively by Shoghi Effendi and not through previous knowledge. When one stands to the east and sees the early-morning light glancing along the gilded rays of the sunburst on the tympanum and catches the flash of the golden Greatest Name monogram blazoned on the green mosaic sun in the centre of anineteen pointed star, one marvels anew at that perfect sense of proportion, that innate flair for beauty, which so strongly characterized every undertaking of a man who was born a prisoner in ‘Akká, visited the West for the first time at twenty-three, had little contact with art and no formal training at all in its forms. When one recalls that this building and its gardens were realized through the instrumentality of ignorant, untrained “gardeners”, an Italian chaufl‘eur who carried out the instruction of his employer standing directing him, an ex-railway executive, a doctor of chemistry and an old man who, though an architect, had had little experience in such undertakings, one bows one’s head before the inborn genius and determination of the Guardian.

The Archives Building stands 12 metres high and is 14 metres wide and 32 metres long, has 50 columns and 2 pilasters over 7 metres high and is built throughout of a marble known as Chiampo Paglierino, a very pale beige in colour. This is the same stone, from the Chiampo quarries between Vicenza and Verona, of which the Shrine of the Báb is built. The order for this work was placed with

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THE Bahá’í WORLD

WORK IN CHIAMPO, ITALY ON THE INTERNATIONAL Bahá’í ARCHIVES BUILDING

Left: turning of one of the 150 monolithic drum sections of the 50 columns of the

building. Below left: the great drums, now fluted, receive their final polishing. When

the three sections of each column are superimposed the flutes match perfectly. Below

right: the first completed Ionic column, copied from the famous temple of Athena

Nike, is erected in the Chiampo workshop to check the perfect fit of the component

parts. T 0}? right: antefixes of the tympanum being crated for shipment to Haifa. Note on the bottom of each its own number to facilitate erection in situ.

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the well-known firm of Industria dei Marmi Vicentini and cost one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. On January 10, 1955, Dr. Giachery, on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, signed the contract. It is of interest to note that in order to fill the order for the nearly one thousand metric tons of marble required for the Archives, three times as much stone had to be quarried. There are at least ten different colours and twice as many shades of marble in the Chiampo beds, and perfect colour match required a vast amount of stone to choose from and no small skill in judging the blocks which were to be dressed and carved in the firm’s workshops.

Andrea Rocca, Professor Emeritus of the Beaux Arts Academy of Carrara, who had already acted as the supervising architect for the work on the Shrine of the Báb that had been carried out in Italy, now took over the same function once again—a happy arrangement, as all concerned had complete confidence in his skill and devoted interest in this unique work of ordering a building in one country and shipping it for erection to another. It was he who, under the constant supervision of Dr. Giachery, made all the full-scale drawings of the Archives, all the working drawings, and personally supervised all the details involved in the execution of the stonework. An elderly man, not only welltrained in the classics, but with a life-long association with the execution of marble work in Italy, he was ideally suited for his task. Each portion of the building required its own general plan and a section drawing showing, according‘ to number, where each component part would fit in; these details themselves had to be drawn full-scale and plans passed down the line from Prof. Rocca to engineers, foremen, head carver, assistant carvers, workers and specialists for execution. Whenever a section was completed, it was assembled in mm at the plant to make sure the fit was perfect, a number, corresponding to a number on a working drawing for erection in Haifa, was stencilled on each piece of separate stone, and then carefully crated and shipped to Israel. All possibility of confusion and error was thus eliminated at the beginning. It was not long before Mr. Rosofl‘ in Haifa informed Mr. Ioas that there was really no work at all for an architect in erecting the building on Mt. Carmel; an engineer in his firm continued

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to supervise the reinforced concrete work on the site, Mr. Rosofi', however, retaining a friendly interest in the work up to the end.

The most difficult part of the building, requiring the most skill in execution, and in erection on the building site, was the fifty giant fluted columns. Although monoliths would have been more perfect, the weight and difficulties involved in transportation made these out of the question, and each column is composed of three drums of stone, each weighing about two metric tons. The twenty-four grooves, constituting the delicate, ridged fluting of the columns, had to be perfectly matched so that no joints would show when they were placed one on the other—a feat carried out to perfection by the expert Italian workmen. The first shipment of over one hundred tons of stones arrived in Trieste packed in eight railroad cars, and sailed from there for Haifa on the S. S. Nakhson on August 12, 1955, seven months after the signing of the contract. More than 800 tons of stone were to follow during a period of a year and a half.

Shoghi Effendi, with his characteristic drive and enthusiasm, followed through every detail of his building himself. The question of the roof, with over two hundred and seventy carved stone antefixes pricked out in silhouette against its base, was one that required careful thought; it was huge and would be a conspicuous feature of the building as it could be seen from above, from the top and slopes of the mountain, and there would be 500 square metres of it! Shoghi Effendi said he wanted it to be green, the lovely green of verdigris on copper, and he wanted it like the original fluted Greek roof in appearance. The same firm, in Utrecht, Holland, which had made the golden tiles for the dome of the Báb’s Shrine was engaged to produce the more than 7,000 ridged tiles required for the roof, at a cost of over fifteen thousand dollars. It took this firm almost eight months, experimenting with colours and material, to produce the proper shade of green copper oxide, samples of which were first sent to Shoghi Effendi for his choice and approval. The tiles alone weighed over 45 tons and had to be specially crated to ensure their safe delivery in the Holy Land. With that engaging confidingness which was so typical of the Guardian‘s relationship to the body

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2 \I‘A (SRAELE téulr STONE

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TILES FROM HOLLAND AND STONE FROM ITALY

Above: green glazed tiles for the roof of the International Archives Building displayed on the roof of the factory in Holland which manufactured them. Below: case of cut stone going by rail from Vicenza to Trieste, thence by ship to Haifa, 1955. The initials S. E. are the Italian abbreviation for “His Eminence” and indicated Shoghi Effendi; port of destination, contents and progressive number of each case is stamped on it. The entire stone work of the Archives Building was sent in this manner.

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PRECISION OF ITALIAN CRAFTSMEN REFLECTED IN INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES BUILDING

Above: part of outer wall showing blind windows and real windows above them laid out in the Chiampo workshop to test joints for accuracy prior to shipment in the beginning of 1956.

Below: section of the oak balustrade for the balcony shown in the workshop in Pistoia, Italy, in the spring of 1957.

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of the believers in Bahá’u’lláh’s Cause, and which so completely won our hearts, he kept the Bahá’í world posted, through a series of cables and messages, on the progress of this great undertaking. In April, 1957, he was able to inform us that the exterior of the International Archives Building was completed and the roof in place, “the whole contributing to an unprecedented degree, through its colourfulness, its classic style and graceful proportions, and in conjunction with the stately, golden-crowned Mausoleum rising beyond it, to the unfolding glory of the central institutions of a World Faith nestling in the heart of God’s holy mountain.”

There is one, monumental, double door of bronze giving access to the building and faced with oak on the inside. It weighs almost two tons and is studded, in each of its ten square panels with a large gilded rosette in relief, about a foot in diameter. It was executed by a well-known Italian foundry in Pistoia where the wooden balustrades of the balconies were also made. The twelve side windows of the Archives, set high in the walls, at the balcony level so as to admit light and at the same time not spoil the exterior impression of smooth, unbroken walls (Greek temples had no side windows), as well as the grill in the room over the vestibule, which faces inside, and the interior main door of glass set in a thin metal frame, were made by the same firm in Sarzana that executed the iron railings of the Báb’s Shrine. Opposite the main entrance, in the rear wall, is an immense stained—glass window comprising sixty-five square panels. It was commissioned in Palermo, Sicily and executed by a distinguished artist, formerly a professor at the local Beaux Arts College. The colours of the glass in this beautiful window are indigo blue, amber and ruby, set in a geometrical design. It is protected on the outside by a wrought iron grill which follows the same outline as the leading that holds the glass panes in position.

There is a large basement in the Archives, reached by a descending continuation of the balcony staircases, which reflects once more the judgment of the Guardian, who never economized on permanent and essential components of his buildings but always economized when he could. Finding that the south, or higher side of the mountain under

THE Bahá’í WORLD

the foundation, was solid bedrock, he insisted that this be left and not blasted out to form a uniform depth in the basement. One therefore sees a great stone shoulder jutting up from the floor in one half of the basement, where the reinforced concrete columns supporting the main floor of the building are shorter than those resting on the level floor to the north.

It was difficult to find the shade of green tiles which Shoghi Effendi desired for the flooring Of the Archives —— an almost pure pale emerald in colour. A terrazzo tile was ordered in Italy, but owing to some fault in the curing, these, after being carefully laid over the 310 square metres of floor space, bleached out through the formation of a white salt deposit on top. Finally, after a long search, rubber tiles of a suitable colour were approved by him and ordered in England; they were placed in position after his passing. He himself chose the model for the six large crystal chandeliers which hang in a row from the centre of the ceiling. They were manufactured in Prague, have thirty-six lights and about two thousand component parts—drops, prisms, and beads.

It is not within the purview of an article of this nature to go into endless details. Although the problems which arose in connection with the construction of the Archives were many, taxing the strength and ingenuity of Mr. Ioas in the Holy Land and Dr. Giachery in Italy, often to the limit; although there were many hitches in the work; although the beloved Guardian did not live to return to Haifa to himself complete the interior of his beautiful building and supervise the final arrangement of the cabinets and ornaments he had chosen for its decoration and had shipped home, waiting for his arrival—nevertheless we can say, as we go to visit this sacred religious museum, that here is his work in all its perfection, here is the mirror of his taste, the perfect reflection of his love for the Founders of our Faith, the balance in values, spiritual and material, that characterized everything he wrote, everything he created, his thought and his character.

Many times Shoghi Effendi said: “I will always sacrifice utility to beauty.” We would do well to deeply ponder this statement.

There is, I firmly believe, a relationship between this policy of Shoghi Effendi and a

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SHOGHI EFFENDI’S TRANSFORMATION OF MOUNT CARMEL The large stone building on the left stands almost exactly where the new Archives Building has been erected. It was demolished by the Guardian and the barren mountain became a beautiful garden.

Looking north-west one sees the arc in the foreground. Future administrative buildings of the Bahá’í World Centre will cluster about this path and face the sea. Note the roof of the Archives Building nearing completion, 1957.

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deep truth revealed in all God’s creation, but particularly emphasized in this Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh. That truth is that beauty is a precious reality of this world and in the realms of the spirit.

In a world which twentieth century man, confused, fearful of the future, experiencing the greatest changes the human race as a whole has ever faced, is making increasingly ugly, the value, the reality of beauty is being lost. And yet we are told in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh that beauty is an attribute of God. One of the titles of Bahá’u’lláh was the “Blessed Beauty”, another the “Ancient Beauty”. He was the One “Whose ravishing beauty hath delighted the eye of God.” He was, indeed, as is written in His prayers, the beauty of God Himself revealed in this world when humanity has come of age, when a world civilization and a world culture lie before the race of men on this planet. He, Bahá’u’lláh, was that Beauty of God so overpoweringly manifest in this world that it was “a Beauty before which as soon as it revealeth itself the kingdom of beauty boweth down in worship, magnifying it in ringing tones . The “kingdom of beauty”, a principle in God’s creation! Over and over the metaphor of beauty is used in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. It is one of the attributes of God Himself: “. . . illumine our eyes, O my Lord, with the efl‘ulgence of Thy beauty”, “ . deal Thou with Thy servants and with all that were created by Thee as would beseem Thy beauty”, “Let my food, O my Lord, be Thy beauty”, “. . . that all hearts may mirror Thy beauty.” The martyrs “hastened to the scene of their death in their longing to gaze on Thy beauty”, “the beauty of Thy radiant countenance”, “Thy wondrous beauty”. Bahá’u’lláh testifies that He “was at no time, in His love for Thy beauty, hindered from shedding the fragrance of His light.” And, most significantly, He prays: “. . open the eyes of Thy people that they may recognize in this revelation the manifestation of . . . the dawning of the lights of Thy countenance and Thy beauty.”

We will never understand the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, nor, indeed, that Faith itself, until we ponder the significance of such words as these. In a world growing more materialistic every hour, which dotes on utility on the one hand and worships forms

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divorced from the balance and symmetry found in nature on the other, we need to take hold of this concept of beauty, in all its manifestations, which is set like a precious gem in our teachings, and let it inspire and guide us as we seek to create the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.

When Shoghi Effendi was asked why he had chosen the Greek style of architecture for the buildings of the World Administrative Centre of the Faith, he replied very simply: because it was beautiful and had withstood the test of time and had remained beautiful for over two thousand years.

No landscape gardener would have tolerated the grades he did in order to achieve the general effect of uninterrupted lines that he created with his steep paths which, straight or in sweeping curves, weave a pattern of unique charm and grace on the slope of the mountain; no architect, left to himself—ridden with modern worship of convenience—would have seized upon the circumscribed interior of the building and forced the stairs, the balconies, the vestibule, to give way and make place for the breath-taking sight that greets one’s eyes as one enters the door; no interior decorator would have dared to put a wooden renaissance-style balustrade on two small balconies in a Greek-style interior and then fill the room with Japanese and Chinese furniture!

But come, let us visit the Archives! We leave the arc and enter, on the right, a small wrought-iron gate painted green. Going, with a little difficulty up a steep and narrow path of crushed red tiles (it is not heaven that has the broad highways leading to it) between two high rows of cypress trees, we pause at the top of the steps to look back. Haifa, the great blue sweep of the bay, the Plain of ‘Akká—the Emek Zebulun of olden days—the mountains of Lebanon, little ships in the harbour ‘Abdu’l-Bahá prophesied so long ago would be built—it all stretches out in front of us, one of the most beautiful sights in the world. Before us are the white marble monuments of the wife, the son and the daughter of Bahá’u’lláh, tucked like small love-temples in the groves of dark cypress; a path stretches straight away in front, a line between the two ends of the are, laid like a bow on our right; trimmed bushes make a double row of pompons going up the centre of this green [Page 425]INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES

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BAHA’l ARCHIVES

Relics of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are housed in the three pairs of cabinets standing away from the wall, back to back.

lawned space, whilst gates, vases of lead and white marble, and symmetrical eight-pointed star-shaped flower beds embellish the prospect; and up at the right, above the arc, the garden sweeps up the mountain in swirls like the gourd motif on a paisley shawl. Flanking the wide stairs are two high iron lamp standards with a flame-shaped glass on top—so perfect in style for the position they occupy that one wonders by what miracle they were ever found second-hand. We pass through the grove of ten mighty columns conveying as they thrust towards the ceiling of the pronaos an indescribable sense of strength and dignity, and one half of the

bronze door swings gently open to admit us into a very small vestibule. In front of us is the inner glass door. As this in its turn swings open, we catch our breath at sight of the giant stained—glass window at the end of the building—a deep, rich, blazing panel of subdued colours, filling the hall with a blue light. The green tiles, the immense deep blue Chinese rug in the centre (purchased by the Guardian himself); the large multicoloured Persian carpets before it; and beyond it the twin eighteenth century console tables with their gilded legs placed back to back and forming one large square table in the centre, their green marble tops surmounted by a

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THE Bahá’í WORLD

THE INTERIOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL Bahá’í ARCHIVES ON MOUNT CARMEL

General view showing balconies and stained-glass window.

Chinese Cloisonne incense burner; the rows of Japanese gold lacquer and Chinese black carved teak wood cabinets flanking both walls; the twelve low cabinets with their stencilled green glass doors, set back to back and forming three groups on either side, standing free from the walls in the centre space; the accents of red from carved Chinese Cinnabar lacquer vases and ornaments; the beautifully illuminated Tablets, with their brilliant green mats and gilded, ornate frames; the vases, candelabra, photographs, calligraphy, and bibelots; the bronze-gilt electric wall brackets; the overhanging balconies running down each wall with their cabinets

and ornaments and more framed and illuminated Tablets on the walls—all glows with an inexpressible sense of warmth and beauty and peace. Suddenly the six crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling blaze up and the room is transfigured. From the sense of having stepped into some fairy cavern, sleeping in the heart of a dream, we become aware of the fact we are in a unique museum whose charm is greatly enhanced by its complete originality.

Many times Shoghi Effendi received gratuitous advice about how exhibits were preserved and displayed in museums: cases with glass tops and draw curtains you look down into, glass wall cabinets, this method

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INTERIOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL Bahá’í ARCHIVES ON MOUNT CARMEL

Above: view of the left side of the main hall and balcony. The cabinet in front of the large window at the back houses the portraits of Bahá’u’lláh. Below: right side of the same hall.

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ORIGINAL TABLETS OF Bahá’u’lláh

Displayed on opposite sides of the Archives Building, these twenty

illuminated Writings in the handwriting of Bahá’u’lláh are kept

behind closed doors. The framed Tablets above the cabinets are

facsimiles of the Báb’s Tablets to the Letters of the Living, impressions

of seals of Bahá’u’lláh, and illuminated letters of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the Greatest Holy Leaf.

and that. He went serenely on his way, purchasing, mostly second-hand, at prices that would surprise many people in business as decorators, where he found them and how he found them, objets d’art, with no desire to possess period pieces or collectors’ items, no prejudices against any period or style, with an eye to the gracefulness and decorative qualities of the object, thus achieving the maximum effect with the maximum economy. There is no doubt that if a professional were to go over the Bahá’í properties, including the Archives, and jot down what he thought they had cost, and were able to compare this with what they did cost, he would be astounded.

When Shoghi Effendi was asked what he planned to do about buying furniture for the balconies, he said he was going to use the furnishings from the building which we used to call the “New Archives”. These consisted of what had been, in the late 1940’s, modern furniture purchased locally and designed for home use: small cabinets, roomy wardrobes, etc. They were made, in more or less agreeable shapes, of veneer. Knowing them, and what he had purchased for the main floor, it was hard to see how a cohesive ensemble could be achieved. But it has been. The over—all effect is beautiful and satisfying.

Having many times heard Shoghi Effendi describe where and how he planned to place

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ORIGINAL TABLETS OF Bahá’u’lláh (See opposite caption)

the furniture and many objects which we had purchased together, I was able, between the completion of the building inside as well as out—in Riḍván, 1958, and the fall of 1961, when the first pilgrims visited the new Archives—to furnish it and arrange the exhibits in a befitting manner, imitating, as closely as I could, the style of the beloved Guardian in the other places he had decorated.

A word should be said about the history of the Archives at the World Centre as we have it today. The material has been collected entirely by Shoghi Effendi. It was not until 1932—33 that pilgrims visiting Haifa saw more than the photograph of Bahá’u’lláh, the miniature portrait of Him, in three poses,

painted at the time He was in Baghdad, and the only existing portrait of the Báb, likewise in miniature, from the early days of His ministry. It was the Guardian, with his gift for collating and organizing Bahá’í historical material, who painstakingly collected, during a period of over thirty years, Tablets, personal relics and historical objects related to the Bab, Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest Branch, and other distinguished figures of the Heroic Age of our Faith. Priceless mementos, letters, manuscripts, personal belongings were carefully gathered by him and meticulously preserved. He would accept no object as genuine unless it had been vouched for, its provenance known,

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its relationship identified. To him we owe the wealth of this international material, its uniqueness in the history of religions, its sacred content. When the three rooms adjoining the Báb’s Shrine and constituting the first International Archives were overflowing, he turned a small house, near the restingplace of the Greatest Holy Leaf, into an additional Archives Building, with two small exhibition halls and a central corridor where other material was displayed. This was called, for convenience’s sake, the “new” or “minor” archives, while the other was identified as the “old” or “major” archives. Since his passing only a few things have been added to this collection. Indeed, the material at the World Centre is now so rich and varied it is difficult to see what could, with the exception of written material, still be added that would not duplicate many times over what is already in Haifa. Perhaps this is why Shoghi Effendi increasingly laid emphasis on the value of building up national archives, particularly in Persia.

For those who have not had the experience of visiting the International Archives, it might be of interest to give a brief resumé of some of the material enshrined in this unique religious museum. In addition to the portraits of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, there are intensely personal mementos: the dried blood of Bahá’u’lláh, preserved by His daughter, the Greatest Holy Leaf on those occasions when, following an immemorial eastern custom, his blood was let, often in the spring, as a prophylactic measure; the dust of the Báb procured from the casket in which His remains were preserved for sixty lunar years after His martyrdom in Tabríz and prior to their entombment in His Shrine on Mt. Carmel; locks of the hair of Bahá’u’lláh, likewise collected by Bahíyyih Khánum, hair by hair from His brush and comb, and lovingly arranged in serpentine curls that convey a sense of power and vitality hard to understand but very real to the beholder. Some of the beautiful embroidered tajes of Bahá’u’lláh, a high, round form of head—dress with a flat top, red, cream or green in colour, about which the snowy turban of finest lawn was wound, are displayed. A more pointed headgear of old paisley, worn by the Báb; nightcaps, as well as many “arakchin”, worn by Bahá’u’lláh under His taj, a small loose

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skull cap, worked with the needle on white cotton, so finely that one wonders what eyes could ever see to make stitches so infinitesimal into a web of pattern, are likewise exhibited. The robes and abas (cloaks) of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; shoes, shirts, stockings, prayer beads, Signet rings of all three may also be seen. Pen cases and pensthe strong dark brown reed pens which were used in Persia by men of education to exercise the highest of all arts in the Orient, penmanship—have been preserved for posterity. One recalls the words of Bahá’u’lláh “the shrill of the Supreme Pen” as it revealed His world-shaking Revelation. And, indeed, those pens, on the smooth hand-made mulberry paper that was often used, emit a shrill sound when certain pressures are exerted. Here one may see the kashkfil of Bahá’u’lláh, the carved mendicant’s bowl slung on chain, which He carried in the mountains of Sulaymaniyyih during His self-imposed years of exile in the wilderness, living the life of a darvi$ and thinking His own thoughts during a period of soul-searching and retirement. Here is the prayer mat of the Báb, a piece of fine Qalamkar (coloured block printing on cotton) on which He prostrated Himself in worship; here the copper bowls and wooden clogs and the towels used by Bahá’u’lláh in the bath. Hislarge framed marriage certificate dated 1251 A. H. (1835) may be marvelled over and the infinitely precious series of illuminated Tablets in His own hand be gazed upon; a letter to His wife Navvéb, the Master’s mother; a letter in which He addresses ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as “O Thou who art the apple of Mine eye l”; letters to His beloved daughter Bahíyyih; the infinitely precious original manuscript of some of the Hidden Words in His own hand; the Persian Bayan dictated by the Báb when He was held prisoner in the forbidding fortress of Mah-Kfi to His amanuensis Siyyid Husayn; as well as the original Tablets addressed to the Letters of the Living in the infinitely fine writing of the Báb Himself, and the one to Bahá’u’lláh, “He Whom God will make manifest.” To these and other treasures of a like nature are added many similar relics associated with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: letters addressed to His sister and mother, personal belongings, His binoculars, His travelling bags, His dictionary in Arabic-Persian-English with

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.w

RELICS OF Bahá’u’lláh

Left: in centre is a téj with white turban in position, on upper shelf a dervish’s téj and

ka$kfil (mendicant’s bowl) used by Bahá’u’lláh. Pen cases, slippers and other things

used by Him are also shown. R131”: locks of hair, téjes, pen cases, reed pens, prayer beads and other articles belonging to Bahá’u’lláh.

RELICS OF THE BAB RELICS OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHA Hair, head-dress, prayer beads, cup Prayer beads. turban, caps worn under and saucer and other articles turban, comb, shoes and other articles

belonging to the Báb. belonging to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

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SOME RELICS OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHA

Hair, prayer beads, pen cases, seals and fan are amongst the many relics of the Master preserved in the Archives.

OBJECTS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST

Amongst the many sacred relics preserved in the Archives are articles

which stir moving memories in the Bahá’ís: plaster from Méh-KL’I where

the Báb was imprisoned, a cannon ball from the fortress of Shayfl Tabarsi, the sword of Mullá Husayn.

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notes in His own hand on where the accent was to be placed on the English words.

Precious stuffs, gold brocades from Persia, India, and Japan, velvets and colourful silks, have been used to form the background and floor covering of the exhibition cabinets, conveying a joyful sense of hue and a richness of texture that enhances the everyday nature of the articles displayed—so sacred, so touching, so full of history in their associations.

A cabinet has been devoted to the things of the Greatest Holy Leaf: head scarfs, clothes, boxes, slippers, combs, dresses—all the touching little things that remain of one infinitely loved and which convey a sense of nearness to a personality worthy of emulation and all our devotion. Here are the few things we possess of her saintly mother, perhaps the most moving, a brocaded box she succeeded in preserving during her long years of exile and imprisonment, and which had come with her from her native land, where she had been born to affluence and comfort, long, long ago.

Another cabinet contains the relics of Navvab’s son, the Purest Branch, including the blood—stained garments cut away from his body after he had fallen through the roof of the “Most Great Prison.” We remember he died of those wounds, and that his Father, from the depths of a sorely-tried heart, raised His voice to the God that possessed Him so completely and cried out, “At this very moment My son is being washed before My face, after Our having sacrificed him in the Most Great Prison. Thereat have the dwellers of the Abhá Tabernacle wept with a great weeping. . . .” A little pile of pebbles is preserved in this cabinet. What could they be? They belonged to this young Mihdi, little more than a child; he had liked their feel, we imagine.

Passing on down the balcony of the Archives we see the sword of Mullá Ḥusayn, the Bábu’l-Bab, the hero of flayfl Tabarsi, and the simple little turquoise ring of the holy Quddt’ls; here is a little miniature portrait of the Vazir, Bahá’u’lláh’s father,

433

with a very long beard, which, it is said Fath-‘Ali flah ordered him to cut shorter or pay a fine, as it offered competition to the royal one. Mirza’. Buzurg paid the fine and kept his beard as God made it. What is that? A cannon ball, from the ruins of Shayfl Tabarsi, where the Babis, besieged by the soldiers of the government, starved and were reduced to eating their own shoe leather. What memories throng into this Archives Building! An invisible host seems to stand above and behind us and look down on the bloodthirsty deeds of man, the sublime acts of the martyrs and saints, the flotsam and jetsam left by the thundering waters of Divine Revelation that beat so heavily on the shore of this world of ours during the last century.

And then we come to the last addition, the new one, the one that should not have been added so soon, the cabinet in which have been placed some of the things of the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi. There is his last picture, not the majesty here depicted, but the ineffable sweetness, at the end ofa road too long and a burden too heavy. Here are his gloves; what small hands he had, hands, the Greatest Holy Leaf said, as she would take them in hers, like her Father’s, just like Bahá’u’lláh’s, intensely intellectual, full of suffering, sensitive. And there are his coloured pencils, so many, and his compass. What did he do with those? They were in his room in London when he died—maps, drawings of his gardens—all these he used them for—a watch, ties, clothes, photographs in leather frames of his beloved Shrine and Gardens the great builder passed into history. He who was so selfeffacing. We stand and look at his personal belongings—it does not seem right. But what can one do; he belongs to everyone now. We love him and want to try and catch a glimpse of what kind of man it was who held the destiny of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith in his hands for thirty-six years and shaped it so well, with such strength, at such a burning point of personal sacrifice, made it all so clear to us, made it all so beautiful.

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THE GUARDIANS’ THINGS

Precious souvenirs of Shoghi Effendi have been added to the Archives. Above them are shown some of the books he wrote, translated or edited.