"lighten and uplift
them, so that they may soar on the wings of the Divine verses"
-Baha'u'llah
Bahjí
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, the shape of a
quarter-circle, 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).
Denied access to the Mansion, `Abdu'l-Baha rented this
building in 1892 from Nasif Hawwa, one of the heirs and a
relative of `Udi Khammar. Shoghi Effendi obtained title to
the property in 1952 in the same transaction which included
the lands surrounding the Mansion and the Shrine.
This small building, at the southern end of the gardens and
just outside the wall of the Bayan estate, had been used by
`Abdu'l-Baha 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 small building outside the quadrant
of the Haram-i-Aqdas had been a utility
building for Nasif 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.
This beautiful wrought-iron
gate was purchased in London by Shoghi Effendi with
funds which had been given to him by Amelia Collins. It
guards the main approach to the Shrine and the
Haram-i-Aqdas, and the Guardian named it after Mrs.
Collins.
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