wfn.org | Baha'is unveil majestic garden terraces on Mount Carmel May 22 2001

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

With a dramatic flourish, Baha'is unveil majestic garden terraces on Mount 
Carmel

FOR MORE INFORMATION, visit the Baha'i World News Service (BWNS) website at:
http://www.bahaiworldnews.org
or email its editors at:
editor@bahaiworldnews.org

HAIFA, Israel, 22 May 2001 (BWNS) -- In an expressive and emotionally 
powerful ceremony featuring a symphony orchestra, a 70-voice choir, a 
specially built 4,000-seat amphitheater, and the setting sun, Baha'is from 
more than 180 countries and their guests celebrated today the inauguration 
of a majestic series of garden terraces on the face of Mount Carmel.

For Baha'is here, and for co-religionists around the world who watched via 
satellite and internet webcast, it was a momentous event, marking the 
completion of a complex of buildings and gardens on what throughout history 
has been called "the Mountain of the Lord."

The Universal House of Justice, in a statement read during the ceremony, 
offered the project, the celebration surroundings it, and the golden-domed 
Shrine in glories, as a source of hope against the "turmoil and crises of 
our time."

"That our Earth has contracted into a neighborhood, no one can seriously 
deny," said the statement of the Faith's international governing body, 
which oversaw the construction of the project. "The world is being made 
new. Death pangs are yielding to birth pangs. The pain shall pass when 
members of the human race act upon the common recognition of their 
essential oneness.

"There is a light at the end of this tunnel of change, beckoning humanity 
to the goal destined for it according to the testimonies recorded in all 
the Holy Books. The Shrine of the Bab stands as a symbol of the efficacy of 
that age-old promise, a sign of its urgency.

"It is, as well, a monument to the triumph of love over hate," continued 
the statement. "The gardens that surround that structure, in their rich 
variety of colors and plants, are a reminder that the human race can live 
harmoniously in all its diversity."

The temporary amphitheater here, erected over the last week at the base of 
Mount Carmel, was packed with more than 3,000 Baha'is, more than 650 
dignitaries from Israel and international embassies, and at least 100 
representatives of the news media from around the world.

The dignitaries present for the ceremony included several Israeli 
Government ministers and deputy ministers, three Israeli Supreme Court 
justices, and more than 30 ambassadors to Israel from around the world. 
Members of the Israeli Knesset and local officials, including the Mayors of 
Haifa and Acre, were also present, as were local and regional religious 
leaders.

The ceremony featured two orchestral works composed especially for the 
occasion. Towards the end of the second composition, and just as dusk was 
falling, the lights on the 19 newly constructed terraces, which extend 
nearly a kilometer up the north face of Mount Carmel, were gradually turned 
on, illuminating the mountainside in a dramatic climax.

"For the Baha'is gathered here, this was a profound act, an inauguration 
ceremony for a set of sacred gardens and new administrative buildings that 
mark the completion of our world center, an event we have worked towards 
for years," said Douglas Samimi-Moore, Director of the Office of Public 
Information of the Baha'i International Community.

"This in a sense represents the coming of age of the Baha'i world 
community, which is emerging around the planet with the aim of helping to 
reshape and revitalize the social and spiritual life of humanity," said Mr. 
Samimi-Moore.

The focus of the terraces, and today's celebration, is the Shrine of the 
Bab, a golden-domed, white marble structure that is the second-most holy 
place to Baha'is in the world. It is the final resting place of the Bab, 
the Herald of the Baha'i Faith, who was born in Iran in 1819 and executed 
in 1850 at the order of religious authorities, who were challenged by His 
claim to prophethood and the rapid growth of His followers.

Much of the program today celebrated the ultimate triumph of the Bab and 
His message, in that there are now some five million Baha'is around the 
world, forming a community capable of financing and constructing the US$250 
million complex of terraces, gardens and two major new buildings that have 
virtually reshaped the north face of Mount Carmel.

"Today we commemorate a sacred history of unexampled love, supreme 
sacrifice and divine vision," said Matthew Weinberg, Director of Research 
for the Baha'i International Community's Office of Public Information, in a 
speech to participants before the ceremony. "It is a narrative prefigured 
in the pronouncements of the great Seers of the past.

"As we stand awestruck at the majestic structures and the 'tapestry of 
beauty' now defining the face of God's Holy Mountain, and ponder the 
mysterious processes responsible for the remarkable transformation of this 
once barren domain, the words of Isaiah echo on all sides: '...Carmel and 
Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the splendor of our God,' 
" said Mr. Weinberg.

Both of the orchestral works composed for today's inauguration are deeply 
connected to this theme. The first piece of music in the program was "O 
Queen of Carmel!," a cantata in three movements, written by Tolib Shahidi, 
a composer from Tajikistan. The second piece, "Terraces of Light," was 
composed by Lasse Thoresen, who is one of Norway's best known classical 
composers.

Mr. Shahidi's piece is based on a eulogy by Shoghi Effendi, who led the 
Baha'i Faith from 1921 to 1957, to "the Queen of Carmel," as Baha'is 
sometimes refer to the Shrine of the Bab. Lyrical and melodic, it made for 
a serene opening work.

Mr. Thoresen's composition is an oratorio in five movements, corresponding 
to the five paragraphs and essential themes found in the stirring Tablet of 
Carmel, a key piece of Baha'i scripture, which was written by Baha'u'llah 
about the role that Mount Carmel plays in religious history and as the 
world center of His Cause. Its modern rhythms and complex intensity were 
stirring.

Both pieces were performed by the Israel Northern Symphony Haifa, under the 
direction of Stanley Sperber, with support from three Canadian soloists -- 
mezzo-soprano Patricia Green, tenor Stuart Howe and baritone Brett 
Polegato. Also featured were Austrian violinists Bijan Khadem-Missagh, his 
son Vahid and daughter Martha, and the Transylvania State Philharmonic 
Choir of Cluj, Romania.

The interplay of human voices and the orchestra, in an outdoor setting at 
the foot of Mount Carmel, with the audience facing upward toward the 
beautifully illuminated Shrine of the Bab, was a moving experience for many 
of the participants, most of whom had been selected by their national 
Baha'i governing bodies to represent their country at this event.

The musical climax of "Terraces of Light" was timed to occur just after the 
sun had set, and as the music reached its crescendo. The 19 terraces were 
lit up one-by-one in a brilliant flourish that will be remembered by 
participants for a lifetime.

"It was stunning," said Nancy Oloro, a delegate from Zambia. "I felt myself 
in a different world. In the Baha'i writings, it is said that music gives 
wings to the soul. And I felt that."

The terraces themselves were also designed to glorify the Shrine of the 
Bab, said architect Fariborz Sahba, who designed them and oversaw their 
construction.

"In principle, whatever we have done on this mountain aims to provide an 
approach to the Shrine, to complement it and pay tribute to it," said Mr. 
Sabha, who also designed the world renowned Baha'i House of Worship in New 
Delhi, India. "Our intention has not been merely to build just a beautiful 
garden. Beautiful gardens are everywhere. But these gardens are spiritual 
gardens."

He explained that they were designed principally with Baha'i pilgrims in 
mind, so that as they walked up the terraces towards the Shrine, believers 
could detach themselves from the outside world and focus on their own 
relationship with the Creator.

"Baha'is have made a tremendous sacrifice to build these monuments," Mr. 
Sahba said, explaining that donations for their construction came entirely 
from Baha'is, "dollar by dollar."

On 4 June, the terraces will be opened to the public. Because of the 
overwhelming interest in the terraces, a computer reservation system is 
being set up to take requests for guided tours, which will be offered at no 
cost.

"This extraordinary work of art that we are seeing on the mountain is a 
visible expression of inspiration that comes only from the Creator," said 
Albert Lincoln, Secretary General of the Baha'i International Community. 
"It is the same spirit of faith that built the great cathedrals of Europe 
and the great mosques, monasteries and religious monuments of the East.

"We think the world should consider the great vitality of this force and 
consider setting aside some of the negative stereotypes which have in this 
modern era come to characterize religion," said Dr. Lincoln. "In other 
words, we see these terraces and this event as an opportunity to see the 
positive force of faith at work."

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