{"id":38835,"date":"2022-05-06T01:40:48","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T08:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=38835"},"modified":"2022-05-04T14:49:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T21:49:54","slug":"mausoleum-work-to-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2022\/05\/06\/mausoleum-work-to-resume\/","title":{"rendered":"Mausoleum work to resume"},"content":{"rendered":"

The construction site of the mausoleum for Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed leader \u2018Abdu\u2019l Bah\u00e1, east of Haifa Bay, Israel. (photo by Gil Zohar)<\/em><\/p>\n

Construction of Vancouver-based architect Hossein Amanat\u2019s mausoleum for Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed leader \u2018Abdu\u2019l Bah\u00e1 (1844-1921) was set back when a fire on April 8 caused significant damage to the main building at the holy site just east of Haifa Bay, Israel.<\/p>\n

The Iranian-Canadian architect\u2019s design features a sloping geometric meditation garden rising in a sunburst pattern to form a dome covering the tomb. Amanat\u2019s neoclassical Persian structure extends the Ridv\u00e1n Garden, which was a favourite oasis where \u2018Abdu\u2019l Bah\u00e1\u2019s father, Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h (1817-1892) \u2013 the founder of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith \u2013 retreated after he was released from Acre Prison in 1877. The modest house in which he stayed during his visits there has been restored. After his father\u2019s death, the Iran-born \u2018Abdu\u2019l Bah\u00e1\u2019 popularized the new religion outside the Middle East in a series of visits to Montreal, and cities in the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n

Amanat, 80, fled his native Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and settled in Canada. He is best known for his Shahyad Freedom Tower in central Tehran, which was dedicated in 1972 to honour the Pahlavi dynasty. Following Iran\u2019s revolution, the monumental 45-metre-high archway was renamed the Azadi Tower, after the square in which it stands.<\/p>\n

Amanat also designed a series of Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed administrative buildings on Mount Carmel, including the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, the Centre for the Study of the Sacred Texts, and the Centre for the International Counselors.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Architect Hossein Amanat is best known for his Shahyad Freedom Tower in Tehran, Iran, which is now known as the Azadi Tower. (photo from flickr)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The April 8 blaze destroyed \u201cseveral months of work\u201d on the 2,900-square-metre circular platform and piazza, the Universal House of Justice (the governing council of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith) said in an April 14 statement. Clouds of smoke billowed from the mausoleum, prompting firefighters to evacuate the nearby suburbs of Giv\u2019at Hatmarim and Afgad.<\/p>\n

The fire broke out when windblown sparks from welding on the dome ignited scaffolding and plastic forms being used to mold poured concrete, Ynet reported. The completed concrete walls and structures were undamaged, and the 250 million shekel ($77 million US) project \u2013 announced in 2019 \u2013 is insured, said the Universal House of Justice. The shrine and meditation garden are being paid for by donations from Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith\u2019s five million members around the world.<\/p>\n

Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed media representative Sama Sabet said construction \u201cwill resume soon.\u201d She didn\u2019t estimate the cost of the damage.<\/p>\n

For the last century, \u2018Abdu\u2019l Bah\u00e1 has been temporarily entombed in Haifa\u2019s shrine of Siyyid \u2018Al\u00ed-Muhammad Sh\u00edr\u00e1z\u00ed (1819-1850), popularly known as the B\u00e1b (\u201cGate\u201d in Arabic). Sh\u00edr\u00e1z\u00ed was executed in Tabriz for apostasy after claiming to be the deputy of the promised Twelver Mahdi, or al-Qa\u2019im. According to legend, the firing squad\u2019s initial barrage of bullets failed to hit him, and a second team of shooters was brought in. As a Shiite heretic, his body was fed to dogs. It was rescued and hidden by believers.<\/p>\n

In 1908, all Ottoman political and religious prisoners were freed by the Young Turk revolution. Newly released, \u2018Abdu\u2019l Bah\u00e1 smuggled the B\u00e1b\u2019s remains to Ottoman Palestine and built his iconic shrine midway up Mount Carmel, near where he himself was living. Its dome, visible from the Haifa harbour along the axis of the German Colony, was gilded in 1953.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/a>
An aerial view of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed shrine, designed by Vancouver-based architect Hossein Amanat, which caught fire on April 8. (screenshot from YouTube)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mausoleum and garden south of the Tel Akko archeological mound will be one of seven Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed holy sites, ornamental meditation gardens and administrative complexes in a western Galilee pilgrimage route stretching from Mazra\u2019a near Nahariya south through Acre (Akko in Hebrew and Akka in Arabic) to Mount Carmel in Haifa. The serene mausoleums of the B\u00e1b and Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h \u2013 together with their adjoining gardens, characterized by their sacred geometry and immaculate landscaping \u2013 were registered on UNESCO\u2019s World Heritage List in 2008.<\/p>\n

The Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith believes in progressive revelation \u2013 that God has revealed himself in a series of manifestations, including Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and, most recently, Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h.<\/p>\n

In 1863, Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h fulfilled the B\u00e1b\u2019s prophecies by proclaiming the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed faith. The new creed eventually evolved into a global religion. Exiled from Persia to Ottoman Baghdad and then the imperial capital Constantinople (today Istanbul) in 1868, Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h was imprisoned in Acre\u2019s Turkish citadel in remote Palestine. For Israelis, the notorious jail and its gallows are best known for the prison breakout on May 4, 1947, near the end of the British Mandate of Palestine, in which gunmen from the Irgun underground freed 27 incarcerated freedom fighters.<\/p>\n

After being released from Acre Prison, Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h moved six kilometres north to Mazra\u2019a, also called Mazra\u2019ih. Two years later, he settled in the Mansion of Bahj\u00ed (meaning \u201cdelight\u201d) in Acre. That palatial home was built in 1821 by \u2018Abdu\u2019ll\u00e1h P\u00e1sh\u00e1, then the Ottoman governor of Acre. Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h remained there until his death in 1892.<\/p>\n

In addition to the mausoleums of the B\u00e1b and Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h, Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed pilgrimage sites in Haifa and the western Galilee on UNESCO\u2019s World Heritage List include the Shrine of Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h and adjoining Mansion of Bahj\u00ed and Bahj\u00ed Gardens in Acre; the Shrine of the B\u00e1b; the 19 terraces of the Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed Gardens and Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed World Centre in Haifa; and the House of \u2018Abbud in the Old City of Acre, where the Bah\u00e1\u2019u\u2019ll\u00e1h spent time after being released from prison.<\/p>\n

Gil Zohar<\/strong> is a writer and tour guide in Jerusalem.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The construction site of the mausoleum for Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed leader \u2018Abdu\u2019l Bah\u00e1, east of Haifa Bay, Israel. (photo by Gil Zohar) Construction of Vancouver-based architect Hossein Amanat\u2019s mausoleum for Bah\u00e1\u2019\u00ed leader \u2018Abdu\u2019l Bah\u00e1 (1844-1921) was set back when a fire on April 8 caused significant damage to the main building at the holy site just east […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4329],"tags":[21536,2766,21534,7335,4242,21535,4330,5806],"class_list":["post-38835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","tag-abdul-baha","tag-architecture","tag-bahai","tag-development","tag-history","tag-hossein-amanat","tag-israel","tag-religion"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}