City of Tabriz, Persia, circa 1935

Green Acre in Eliot, Main, USA becomes one of the first Baha’i summer schools in the Western Hemisphere

Sanctified by a native peace pipe ceremony in 1894, the Sarah Farmer Inn, near the banks of the Piscataqua river in Eliot, Maine, became a conference facility for a variety of courses, including transcendentalism, evolution and comparative religion. Its open-minded atmosphere attracted people of many religions, cultures, and races. It provided a peaceful setting for fostering fellowship, understanding and unity.

After her pilgrimage to ‘Akka in 1900, Sarah Farmer, made the facilities at the disposal of the followers of the Faith which she had herself recently embraced. The center attracted many Baha’i speakers including some very famous like, Mirza Abu’l-Fadl in 1902. In 1912 Green Acre became specially blessed by the footsteps of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Who spent a week there and gave a number of talks. In one of them on August 17 He indicated that “In the future, God willing, Green Acre shall become a great center, the cause of the unity of the world of humanity, the cause of uniting hearts and binding together the East and the West. This is my hope. (Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 264). It is reported that ‘Abdu’l-Baha further indicated that one day Green Acre would become the site of the first Baha'i University and the second Baha'i Temple in the United States. The room in which ‘Abdu’l-Baha stayed is reserved nowadays for prayers and meditation.

1969: Bahji from the air

Bahji from the air looking northeast, 1969

(Baha'i News April 1969)

April 21, 1922: Shrines of both Baha'u'llah and the Bab were electrically illuminated for the first time

On the first day of Ridvan [1922], although Shoghi Effendi himself had left Haifa, the Shrines of both Baha'u'llah and the Bab were electrically illuminated for the first time, pursuant to arrangements made before the Master's ascension, but, again, supervised by Shoghi Effendi himself. 

- Ruhiyyih Khanum  ('The Priceless Pearl')

The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in 'Ishqabad, extensively damaged by violent earthquakes in 1948, was demolished in 1963 by the Russian authorities for safety reasons

A message from the Universal House of Justice:

August 25, 1963

To the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá'í World

Dear Bahá'í friends,

The whole Bahá'í World will be grief-stricken at the news of the sad fate which has overtaken the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in 'Ishqabad, the first Temple raised to the glory of Bahá'u'lláh. [The temple was located in Turkmenistan, near the Iranian border, north of the Iranian province of Khurasan ] Due to its unsafe condition, resulting from earthquakes, the building has been entirely demolished and the site cleared.

The building of this edifice, the only structure of its kind to be raised and completed in the lifetime of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, was described by the beloved Guardian as "a lasting witness to the fervour and the self-sacrifice of the Oriental believers." This "enterprise," the Guardian further wrote, "must rank not only as the first major undertaking launched through the concerted efforts of His followers in the Heroic Age of His Faith, but as one of the most brilliant and enduring achievements in the history of the first Bahá'í century."[GPB, p. 300. The first Bahá'í century ended in 1944.]

The Bahá'í centre in 'Ishqabad was founded in the days of Bahá'u'lláh. Already during His lifetime preliminary steps had been adopted by the friends of that community to build, in accordance with the provisions of the Most Holy Book, a Mashriqu'l- Adhkar.[The Most Holy Book is the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh's book of laws]

The room Bahá'u'lláh was born in

This is the room Bahá'u'lláh was said to be born in, appropriately between dawn and sunrise, November 12, 1817. It was the main parlor of the house of His father in Tihran. Panes in the upper window are colored red, blue, yellow and green. 

(Source: 'Land of Resplendent Glory', by the International Baha'i Audio-Visual Centre, 1971)

The Most Great Prison in Akka as seen in 1907

The Most Great Prison in Akka, Israel. This photo was taken by the late Hand of the Cause, Roy C. Wilhelm in 1907 

(Baha'i News, January 1965)

Baha’u’llah rented a house in Baghdad

Baha'u'llah arrived in Baghdad on 8 April 1853. The journey from Tehran had been very difficult and had lasted three months. After a few days in Baghdad, Baha'u'llah moved to Kazimayn, a Shi'i shrine city which at that time was some five kilometers north-west of Baghdad (it has since become incorporated into the city). The Iranian consul suggested to him that since Kazimayn tended to be full of rather fanatical elements, it would be safer for Baha'u'llah if he lived in Baghdad itself in the mainly Persian-speaking quarters on the west bank of the Tigris river. Baha'u'llah consented to this and rented a house there.  

- Moojan Momen  ('Baha’u’llah A Short Biography')

Bahá'u'lláh's Father's House in Tihran

The Tomb of Baha'u'llah at Bahji, in the years immediately following His ascension

(The Baha'i World 1932-1934)

1912: ‘Abdu’l-Baha lays the cornerstone of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar in Wilmette

May 1st was a remarkable day, a day of very high distinction: 'Abdu'l-Baha laid the foundation-stone of the Mother Temple of the West. At Wilmette on the shores of Lake Michigan ample land had been purchased. On the site chosen for the construction of the Temple, a large tent had been raised and here, after inspecting the grounds, 'Abdu'l-Baha took His place to speak. He said:

“The power which has gathered you here today notwithstanding the cold and windy weather is indeed mighty and wonderful. It is the power of God, the divine favour of Baha'u'llah which has drawn you together. We praise God that through His constraining love human souls are assembled and associated in this way.

Thousands of Mashriqu’l-Aadhkars, dawning-points of praise and mentionings of God for all religionists will be built in the Orient and Occident, but this being the first one erected in the Occident has great importance. In the future there will be many here and elsewhere; in Asia, Europe, even in Africa, New Zealand and Australia;* but this edifice in Chicago is of especial significance ..."

'Akka -- May, 1967

'Akka from the air, looking west over the Mediterranean. Most Great Prison shown in center, Mosque to lower left. Photo taken in May, 1967.

Mount Carmel as it appeared to the first American pilgrims in 1898

Mount Carmel as it appeared to the first American pilgrims to visit 'Abdu'l-Baha in 1898. The building at the foot and on the left marks the place where Elijah, the Prophet, found shelter. On the summit is a convent. 

(Baha'i News, December 1971)

The Garden of Ridvan

Entrance to the Garden of Ridvan where Baha'u'llah declared His Mission in 1863 and after twelve days departed for Constantinople. ... The beauty of this garden is apparent through its service to humanity -- that is, it was a hospital then and two successive governments have used it similarly  ... [as] a center where bodily ailments are healed. 

(The Baha'i World 1926-1928)

Bahá'u'lláh's ancestral home in Takur, in the district of Nur

Baha’u’llah usually spent His summers as a boy at his ancestral home in Takur. He also visited it later in life before being exiled from Iran.

Bahá'u'lláh's Father's House in Tihran, Iran

Reconstructed House of Bahá’u’lláh's father in Takur, Mazindaran, Iran, circa 1936

 (The Baha'i World 1936-1938)

Entrance to Bahá’u’lláh's ancestral House in Takur, Persia