Israel: Haifa: Mount Carmel: Terraces of the Shrine of the Bab

Barak
Waukegan

Worth visiting!

The Baha'i Shrine and Gardens

Haifa’s most impressive sightseeing attraction is certainly the Baha’i Gardens.
The gardens are a memorial to the founders of the Baha’i faith. Haifa is the international headquarters for the Baha’i faith.

Baha’is believe in the unity of all religions and see all religious leaders – Christ, Buddha, Muhammad, Moses – as messengers of God, sent at different times in history with doctrines varying to fit changing social needs, but bringing substantially the same message. The most recent of these heavenly teachers, according to Baha’is, was Baha’ Allah.
He was exiled by the Turkish authorities to Acre (In israel), wrote his doctrines there, and died a peaceful death in Bahji House just north of Acre.

In the Haifa gardens, the huge domed shrine entombs the remains of the Bab, the Baha’ Allah’s herald. The tomb is a sight to see, with ornamental gold work and flowers in almost every nook and cranny. The Bab’s remains, incidentally, were hidden for years after he died a martyr’s death in front of a firing squad. Eventually, however, his followers secretly carried his remains to the Holy Land.

On a higher hilltop stands the Baha’i International Archives building. These are business buildings, not open to tourists. They, and the shrine of the tomb of the Bab, all face toward Acre, the burial place of Baha’ Allah.

Comments:

Sharon
Ramat Gan

I'd really want to go there

It’s such a shame….i’ve been here in Israel for eight years now, but i’ve never been to Haifa. I remember that the first time i saw this picture, i was actually sitting in my dentist’s office, a few years ago…i’ve always wanted to go, after that moment, but i’ve never had the time. Hopefully, is one of the things i’m going to do soon.

Barak
Waukegan

The gardens are very beautiful.

I’ve been there at February with my family.

The entrance is only permitted through pre-determined scheduled guided tours only. They do this cause they want to have control of the people wandering around their holy gardens..

There are two tours you could take:

  1. From the middle of the gardens down to Haifa – this was the tour which we took because it was easier to walk downstairs for my parents and grandmother’s sake.
  2. From the middle of the gardens up to the highest place in the gardens.

PS – Did you make ‘Aliyah’ to Israel by yourself? how come? did you know Hebrew before moving to Israel?

PS#2 – You could go ahead and add it to your 43places list..

Sharon
Ramat Gan

Thanks for the tip

I’ll definitely go there soon. Let’s just hope they’re there on Saturday too… :)

I made “Alyiah” 8.5 years ago, although i came here with my mother (who’s israeli, so all her side of the family is here) and my little brother (now he’s in the army). Before that, we used to come here during the summer, but i didn’t know a word of hebrew until we came here to stay….i had awful experiences in the Ulpan and some hard times with your lovable language, but in the end i made it pretty nicely. Now i speak, write (with little mistakes, of course, sometimes….) and read without any big problem and it’s a bit hard to understand from my accent that i’m not originally israeli (many people think that english is actually my mother tongue…funny thing).
Anyway, the most important thing is that i’m totally in love with this amazing place and i’m defintely not going anywhere else (especially, i would never ever go back to Italy for good).

p.s. 2 i don’t want to add it on my “things list”...otherwise, why would i need a “places list” too ? :)

Barak
Waukegan

Not bad at all..

Did you join the IDF too?

In general Italian mentality is quite similar to the Israeli mentality more than it resembles the general European mentality at least , right?
That must have helped you feel at home here :)

p.s – I wrote 43places..

Sharon
Ramat Gan

My romance with the army...

They called me in Italy, when i was 17, but i couldn’t join it then (i was still going at school and i didn’t know a word in hebrew), so i decided to “postpone” my service for a year or so. When i came here to stay though, i went to the army but they told me “You don’t need to do it”...someone told that probably it was because they had enough girls that year, but it was a pity for me, because it made it harder for me to find my place here and find friends.

About the israeli mentality, it was very hard for me to get used to it…i come from Milan, and there the mentality is much more similar to the european one than to the israeli one. It took me a long long time to find myself here, build my life here, my friendships, get used to the israeli mentality and way of life, but in the end i truly fell in love with this place, the people, the mentality. I’m really glad to be here and i’m totally feeling israeli :)

p.s. what do you mean by “i wrote it” ? Did you plan it, organize it ? Was it your idea ?....Well, my compliments… i’m impressed :)

At least you have another representative of your family :) - Barak

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