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3. THE COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION
OF THE BUILDING FOR THE SEAT OF THE
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! His all-conquering sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing splendour is revealed. Beware lest thou hesitate or halt
. . . Verily this is the Day in which both land and sea rejoice at this announcement, the Day for which have been laid up those things which God, through a bounty beyond the ken of mortal mind or heart, hath destined for revelation. Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and will manifest the people of Bahá who have been mentioned in the Book of Names.
Bahá`u'lláh, Tablet of Carmel
O
N 5 June 1975 the Universal House of Justice announced to all National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Bahá`í world that `it is now both necessary and possible to initiate construction of a building that will not only serve the practical needs of a steadily consolidating administrative centre but will, for centuries to come, stand as a visible expression of the majesty of the divinely ordained institutions of the Administrative Order of Bahá`u'lláh'. The building, the House of Justice explained, would be faced `with stone from Italy, and surrounded by a stately colonnade of . . . Corinthian columns'. It would contain, in addition to the council chamber of the House of Justice, `a library, a concourse for the reception of pilgrims and dignitaries, storage vaults with air-purification for the preservation of original Tablets and other precious documents, accommodation for the secretariat and the many ancillary services that will be required'. The design, classically beautiful and majestic, was that of Mr. Husayn Armánat whose appointment as architect was announced on 18 September 1973.
On 10 January 1977 the House of Justice announced that an agreement had been signed with a general contractor for the erection of the building. `The erection of this building which, comprising five and a half storeys,' the House of Justice wrote, `far surpasses in size and complexity any building at present in existence at the World Centre, presents a major challenge to the Bahá`í community, whose resources are already too meagre in relation to the great tasks that lie before it. But the spirit of sacrifice has been the hallmark of the followers of Bahá`u'lláh in every race and clime and as they unite to raise this second1 of the great edifices of the Administrative Centre of their Faith they will rejoice at having the inestimable privilege of taking part in a "vast and irresistible process" which Shoghi Effendi stated is "unexampled in the spiritual history of mankind" and which will "attain its final consummation, in the Golden Age of the Faith, through the raising of the standard of the Most Great Peace, and the emergence, in the plentitude of its power and glory, of the focal Centre of the agencies constituting the World Order of Bahá`u'lláh".'
Excavation of the site on the slopes of Mount Carmel began on 17 June 1975 and construction proceeded without interruption. On 29 April 1978, assisted by the architect and Mr. `Azíz Khabípúr, the resident construction engineer, the Hand of the Cause Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum, during the fourth International Convention, placed a casket containing Dust from the Holy Shrines of the Faith in a niche above the front entrance of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, in the outer wall of the council chamber.
Despite the outbreak of the persecution of the Bahá`í community in the cradle of the Faith and the instigation of repressive measures which resulted in virtually crippling the capacity of the believers in Írán to make financial contributions, heroic compensatory sacrifices were made by the followers of Bahá`u'lláh in every land and which enabled the construction of the edifice--the greatest single undertaking of the Five Year Plan--to proceed without halt, and by Ridván 1983 all was in readiness for the fifth International Convention.
1 The first of the majestic edifices constituting this mighty Centre, was the building for the International Archives of the Faith which was completed in the summer of 1957 . . .' (Universal House of Justice).
P466
One Picture with the Caption: The Permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice being landscaped in April 1983 for the fifth International Bahá`í Convention.
P467
Three Pictures:
Caption of First Picture: Aerial photograph taken in April 1979.
Caption of Second Picture: Completing entablature; July 1979.
Caption of Third Picture: Placing first pre-cast sections of terrace walls; 16 October 1979
.
P468
Three Pictures:
Caption of First Picture: Placing marble sections on dome; 6 December 1979.
Caption of Second Picture: Placing marble steps leading to the front entrance; 13 December 1979.
Caption of Third Picture: Completion of exterior marble; June 1980..
P469
Three Pictures
:
Caption of First Picture: Laying of granite tiles in reception concourse; 25 November 1980.
Caption of Second Picture: Commencement of roof tiling; 2 February 1981.
Caption of Third Picture: View of roof from Mount Carmel, showing tiling in process; 3 February 1981.
P470
Three Pictures
:
Caption of First Picture: The Seat of the House of Justice viewed from the air; 9 May 1981.
Caption of Second Picture: Erection of rubbed walnut balustrades at eastern end of reception concourse; 15 July 1981.
Caption of Third Picture: Completed decorative, domed ceiling of the Council Chamber; 15 July 1981.
P471
Three Pictures:
Caption of First Picture: The World Centre observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, during which a seminar on her life was held in the reception concourse, served as a fitting inauguration of the building; 17 July 1982.
Caption of Second Picture: Erection of main gates; December 1982.
Caption of Third Picture: World Centre staff are seen assisting in moving office equipment and files from the temporary seat of the House of Justice, 10 Haparsim Street, Haifa, into the new building; 28 January 1983.
P472
Three Pictures:
Caption of First Picture: Reference library with view of banquet hall below; April 1983.
Caption of Second Picture: Seating area off reception concourse with furniture in place; April 1983.
Caption of Third Picture: Smiling delegates to the fifth International Bahá`í Convention are seen leaving the Permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice after casting their ballots; April 1983.