|
"lighten and uplift
them, so that they may soar on the wings of the Divine verses"
-Baha'u'llah
|
|
|
Golden
anniversary of the Queen of Carmel
|
HAIFA,
Israel, 12 October 2003 (BWNS) --
When Shoghi Effendi, then the Head of the Baha'i
Faith, announced the completion of the
superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab 50 years
ago this month, he used poetic words to indicate
the significance of the occasion.
He
described the completed Shrine in a cablegram as
the "Queen of Carmel enthroned (on) God's
Mountain, crowned (in) glowing gold, robed (in)
shimmering white, girdled (in) emerald green,
enchanting every eye from air, sea, plain (and)
hill." |
Drawing by William Sutherland Maxwell of the
Shrine of the Bab with the superstructure he
designed, 1944.
|
The Shrine
on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel, is the burial place of
the Bab, the Martyr-Prophet of the Baha'i Faith, the
Forerunner of Baha'u'llah, the Faith's Founder. For
Baha'is, it is a place of pilgrimage, and the holiest
spot on earth after the Shrine of Baha'u'llah.
The beauty
of the Shrine, illuminated at night, is now enhanced by
19 garden terraces that stretch one kilometer from the
base of Mount Carmel to its summit. The terraces, which
were opened in May 2001, have attracted more than 1.5
million visitors.
|
The
announcement by Shoghi Effendi in October 1953 of
the completion of the Shrine's superstructure came
five years after the beginning of a US$750,000
construction project paid for by Baha'is around
the world.
The
completion of the project was, in fact, the
triumphant consummation of a process begun more
than 60 years earlier by Baha'u'llah to provide a
fitting resting place for His Forerunner. |
The Shrine of the Bab in 1909. |
In 1891,
Baha'u'llah had indicated to His eldest son and
appointed successor, 'Abdu'l-Baha, the precise spot on
Mount Carmel where the Shrine of the Bab should be
built.
'Abdu'l-Baha
carefully carried out His Father's instructions. He
overcame many difficulties to build a massive six-room
mausoleum of local stone. Then, in 1909, He solemnly
placed the sacred remains of the Bab in an alabaster
sarcophagus within the vault of the edifice, which he
called "the Throne of God".
Between
1928 and 1929 Shoghi Effendi added three rooms to the
building.
The colonnade under construction, 1950. |
In
1942, he commissioned one of Canada's leading
architects, William Sutherland Maxwell -- his
father-in-law, who was then living in Haifa -- to
design the arcade and the superstructure, which
was to embellish and preserve the stone building.
For
two years, Mr. Maxwell consecrated himself to his
task.
Shoghi
Effendi provided overall guidance, including in
the use of Western and Eastern styles, but left
the artistic details to Mr. Maxwell.
On 23
May 1944, 100 years after the Bab declared his
Mission, Shoghi Effendi unveiled in Haifa a 60cm
(two feet) model of the superstructure. When
built, it would rise 40 meters above ground level. |
Crowning
the majestic design, as anticipated by 'Abdu'l-Baha, was
a dome, which was set on an 18-windowed drum. That in
turn, was mounted on an octagon, a feature suggested by
Shoghi Effendi. A stately arcade, in fulfillment of the
vision of 'Abdu'l-Baha, surrounded the stone edifice.
Shoghi
Effendi, who spoke of the work of Mr. Maxwell with
delight and admiration, said the project to build the
structure transcended in sacredness any collective
undertaking in the course of the history of the Faith so
far.
Workmen building the platform above the stone
edifice, 1950. |
Construction
began at the time of the establishment of the
state of Israel, and as the world was struggling
to recover from a devastating war. Building
materials were in extremely short supply in the
country, as were skilled stone masons.
Shoghi
Effendi asked Sicilian Baha'i, Ugo Giachery, to
acquire the required materials in Italy. Much of
that country had been laid waste by the Second
World War, and there too it was difficult to
obtain the vast quantities of construction items
necessary.
Skilled
artisans, however, were looking for work. Dr.
Giachery engaged them to cut, carve and polish
Chiampo stone and Rose Baveno granite in
accordance with Mr. Maxwell's designs. They
produced 28 columns, eight pilasters and 28 arches
-- as well as other pieces. |
Using his
skills in planning, administration and government
liaison, Dr. Giachery ensured that ships transported the
columns, panels, capitals, arches and other items for
the Shrine from Italy to Haifa.
Overcoming
electricity shortages, export restrictions, storms at
sea, a fire on board ship, a cordon of warships, and
even the dropping of 61 cases of stone into Haifa harbor,
Dr. Giachery fulfilled Shoghi Effendi's requests to the
letter.
|
He
was to be accorded the honor of being named a Hand
of the Cause, and one of the Shrine's doors was
called after him.
The
superstructure was said to be at the time the
largest prefabricated building to move from Europe
to any point in the world.
The
first contracts were signed in 1948, and the first
threshold stone laid in 1949.
Such
was the beauty of the completed arcade with its
colonnade of rosy pink granite and its
Oriental-style arches of soft, creamy stone that
many local people thought the structure was
finished in June 1950, long before the octagon and
dome were erected.
The
emerald green and scarlet mosaics on the
balustrade above, the fire-gilded bronze symbol of
the Greatest name, the Baha'i ringstone symbol at
the four corners, and the multitude of intricate
decorations and motifs elsewhere, were hailed as
pure artistry. |
Interlocked beams in the shape of an
eight-pointed star supported the octagon. |
The
original plan of Shoghi Effendi had been to halt at this
stage until conditions improved, but he changed his
mind.
The next
stage was to build a platform to support the proposed
octagon, drum and gilded dome, which would combine to
weigh more than 1000 tons.
|
Huge
interlocked beams in the shape of an eight-pointed
star -- cast in one day -- were placed about 30cm
above the roof level of the stone building.
That
star was supported by eight steel-reinforced
concrete piers, which reached down to bedrock. The
piers penetrated the thick masonry of the Shrine,
a difficult task successfully implemented without
damaging the essential structure or impinging on
the Tombs.
The
octagon rose from the center of the large
platform. It was surmounted by eight elegant,
golden-tipped pinnacles, which anchored
wrought-iron railings suggesting a lotus blossom
opening. |
The octagon with its pinnacles and balustrade,
1952. |
"Great
happiness, many congratulations and much laughter"
accompanied the completion of the installation of the
railings, wrote Dr. Giachery in his book of
recollections entitled "Shoghi Effendi".
"The
whole edifice displays a great variety of architectural
and artistic gems, products of the inventiveness and
refined taste of Mr. Maxwell," he wrote.
Dr.
Ugo Giachery. |
In
1952, Leroy Ioas, a Baha'i who had been closely
associated with the construction of the beautiful
Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, arrived from
the United States. He was to become an able
lieutenant of Shoghi Effendi in the construction
process.
Mr.
Ioas employed his considerable administrative
skills and practical mind to supervise the
building of the drum and dome, a task done without
the availability of sophisticated machinery. He
too was to be named a Hand of the Cause. Shoghi
Effendi called the door on the octagon after him. |
The drum, a
perfect cylinder, was completed in March 1952. Rising 11
meters, it rests on a circular steel reinforced concrete
ring on the top of the octagon.
In
accordance with an idea of Shoghi Effendi's, it has 18
stained-glass lancet windows, representing the first
disciples of the Bab.
William
Sutherland Maxwell. |
On 25
March 1952, while the drum he had designed was
being built, Mr. Maxwell died in Toronto, Canada.
It was three months after he had been appointed a
Hand of the Cause.
In a
message expressing his intense grief at the
passing of his friend and colleague, Shoghi
Effendi announced that the southern door of the
Bab's tomb would be named after him.
The
building of the brim, and then the dome, called
for all the ingenuity of the engineer of the
project, Professor H. Neumann of Haifa's Technion
University. |
No heavy
stone could be used because the weight-bearing capacity
of the concrete stilts was limited.
A solution
was found for the brim using two slabs of stone anchored
together and to the dome. Next, Professor Neumann used a
recently-devised method for the dome in which cement,
mixed with fine sand and water was sprayed upon a mold.
Meanwhile,
12,000 fish-scale tiles -- of 50 different shapes and
sizes -- were being made in Holland by employing an
innovative process involving fire-glazing over gold
leaf.
|
On 29
April 1953, Shoghi Effendi climbed the scaffolding
and placed behind one of the tiles a small box
containing plaster from the Mah-Ku prison cell,
which once confined the Bab in Persia.
The
lantern and finial were placed on top of the dome,
and the tiling was finished.
The
graceful structure was completed, the golden dome
its crowning beauty. |
The Shrine with its superstructure completed. |
Shoghi
Effendi announced the conclusion of the project in a
joyous cablegram to a Baha'i conference being held in
New Delhi, India from 7-15 October 1953.
His message
came as a triumphant climax to the Holy Year marking the
centenary of the birth of the Mission of Baha'u'llah,
and at the early stages of the successful Ten-Year plan
to spread the Baha'i teachings throughout the world.
|
|
| Published in Bahá'í
World News Service |
|
|
|
|
