wfn.org | Visitors to Baha'i Sacred Terraces Passes 1.4 million

["Brad Pokorny" <bpokorny@adelphia.net>]

Baha'i World News Service
For more information, contact: editor@bahaiworldnews.org
or visit www.bahaiworldnews.org

VISITORS TO BAHA'I SACRED TERRACES NUMBER 1.4 MILLION

HAIFA, Israel, 17 June 2003 (BWNS) -- Nearly one and a half million people
have visited the garden terraces surrounding the Shrine of the Bab on Mount
Carmel here since they were first opened to the public on 4 June 2001.

The vast majority of the 1.4 million visitors have been from Israel, which
has a population of six a half million. The terraces are one of the top
tourist attractions in the country.

The Terraces and two adjacent administrative buildings were completed after
10 years of work at a cost of some $250 million in voluntary donations from
the worldwide Baha'i community of five million believers. The terraces were
built primarily as a path of approach for Baha'i pilgrims to the Shrine of
the Bab, the second-most holy spot for Baha'is.

The Terraces also offer a symbol of peace and hope to the world at large,
and the guided tours come with a message: that harmony and co-existence are
possible.

Releasing the figures, Guided Tours Operation manager Eliza Rasiwala said
more than 380,000 of the visitors had taken pre-reserved guided tours.

The tours, provided by the Baha'i World Centre, are free of charge.

Guided tours take visitors down either the upper or lower sections of the 19
terraced gardens. Casual visitors may visit Terrace 19, the gardens
immediately adjacent to the Shrine of the Bab, and the entrance plaza to the
terraces at the foot of the mountain.

Ms. Rasiwala said there had been more than 9,700 tours since they first
began two years ago.

About 25 Israeli university students, who are trained and paid for their
services, lead most of the tours but there are also some full-time
professional guides, she said.

The guides come from Jewish, Christian, Islamic and Druze backgrounds. Tours
are also accompanied by support guides, some of whom are Baha'i World Centre
staff members volunteering in their off-hours.

At present tours are available in Hebrew, Arabic, English, Russian and
Spanish. Israeli staff take reservations by phone.

For more stories and photographs of the terraces and tours see
http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story.cfm?storyid=134
and also http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/terraces.

--2-MD-030613-1-TERRACES-221-S

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