Visiting Bahá’í Holy Places/Bahjí

Visiting Bahá’í Holy Places by Bahá’í World Centre

Proofread once

[Page 16]

THE HARAM-I-AQDAS

In 1952, after owners of the land neighbouring the Mansion of Bahjí fled the Holy Land and their properties were expropriated by the Israeli government, Shoghi Effendi exchanged parcels of land near the present village of Ein Gev, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, for a large tract of land and some buildings surrounding the Mansion and the Shrine. He immediately laid out a large garden, in the shape of a quarter-circle, to the north and west of the Mansion, focusing on the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh. He called it the "Haram-i-Aqdas" (The Most Sacred Precincts).

THE PILGRIM HOUSE AND THE ROOM OF THE MASTER

Denied access to the Mansion, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá rented this building in 1892 from Násif Hawwá, one of the heirs and a relative of ‘Udí Khammár. Shoghi Effendi obtained title to the property in 1952 in the same transaction as included the lands surrounding the Mansion and Shrine.

THE MASTER'S TEA HOUSE

This small building, at the southern end of the gardens and just outside the wall of the Bayḍún estate, had been used by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to receive the friends—including the first Western pilgrims to visit the Holy Land in 1898. Shoghi Effendi obtained a long-term lease on the property in 1956, and the Universal House of Justice eventually purchased it.

THE GUARDIAN'S WORKROOM

The small building outside the quadrant of the Haram-i-Aqdas had been a utility building for Násif Hawwa's olive groves. The Guardian rebuilt it, fitted the roof as a place from which he could observe the development of the gardens, furnished it with tables for his drawings and sketches and decorated its walls with maps.

THE COLLINS GATE

This beautiful wrought-iron gate was purchased in London by Shoghi Effendi with funds which had been given to him by Hand of the Cause of God Amelia Collins. It guards the main approach to the Shrine and the Haram-i-Aqdas, and the Guardian named it after Mrs. Collins.

TERRACES

When Shoghi Effendi obtained title to the large portion of the land and buildings surrounding the Shrine and the Mansion in 1952, he demolished many of the derelict structures and, in 1954 and 1955, used the material to construct the two lower tiers of the imposing terraces that adjoin the Haram-i-Aqdas on the east. The last Covenant-breakers were ejected on 6 September 1957 and in December, after the Guardian's passing, the Hands of the Cause demolished the last building—a large structure that spanned the northern end of the Mansion and completed the terraces and landscaped them according to the Guardian's design.

THE EASTERN GARDENS

After arranging for the diversion of a roadway that passed the Mansion on the east, the Universal House of Justice graded, developed, [Page 17] and fenced the property and laid out the north-eastern garden in time for the Palermo Conference in 1968. The south-eastern garden was planted in 1971.

THE NORTHERN GARDENS — Development of these gardens, spanning the walkway north of the Collins Gate, was begun in 1966 and is still under way.

THE SOUTH-WESTERN GARDENS — Portions of these gardens were planted in 1972 in the large olive grove that covers the area. Enough land to complete this final quadrant was obtained in September 1980.

THE OLD PINE GROVE — The large tree that remains just north of the western parking lot is all that remains of the original grove of native pines which provided a setting for picnics in the time of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.