Baha’i shrines named as World Heritage sites

The Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has today added two Bahá’í shrines to the list of World Heritage sites. The resting places of the twin Founders of the Bahá’í Faith – the Báb and Bahá’u'lláh – are the first sites connected with a modern religious tradition to be added to this prestigious list. They join famous World Heritage sites like the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, the Vatican, and Stonehenge.

Dr Albert Lincoln, secretary-general of the Bahá’í International Community, expressed the community’s pleasure at the decision:

We welcome the UNESCO recognition, which highlights the importance of the holy places of a religion that in 150 years has gone from a small group found only in the Middle East to a worldwide community with followers in virtually every country.

The Bahá’í community is particularly grateful to the government of Israel for putting forward this nomination.

You can read more about this in the story on the Baha’i World News Service. And it’s well worth reading this longer, more reflective piece, “People can sense the presence of God”, about the significance of these shrines and the whole Bahá’í World Centre.

Bahá’ís long to have the opportunity to visit or, even better, to make their pilgrimage to these stunning buildings and gardens. I have been fortunate to be able to visit regularly and I am awed by them every time I go.

Significance of this UNESCO inscription

This is an exciting development, one that I know has been under consideration for quite some time. As fellow Baha’i blogger Marco Oliveira has pointed out:

I believe it is important to that this inscription is VERY significant. Iran is a signatory of the UNESCO world heritage list, next time they destroy a Baha’i holy place in Iran we can put more pressure on them as with the Shrines being inscribed its a recognition that the Baha’i Faith’s figures and history are of “outstanding universal value” and of importance to humanity.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Baha’i World Centre, Bab, Baha’u'llah, UNESCO, World Heritage Site, Israel

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3. Baha’i World Centre visit
4. Bahá’í Shrine, blue lights and Israel at 60
5. Head of Iran’s Supreme Administrative Court has a go at Baha’is

Tagged as: Bab, Baha'i, Baha'i World Centre, Baha'u'llah, Israel, UNESCO, World Heritage Site