page_title: Mansion of Bahjí
hierarchical_section_title: Mansion of Bahjí
caption_attribution_description: The Mansion of Bahjí
context_page_description: The Mansion of Bahjí is a summer house in Acre, Israel where Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, died in 1892. His shrine is located next to this house. The whole area was called Al-Bahjá.
  The area was originally a garden planted by Sulayman Pasha, who was the ruler of Acre, for his daughter Fatimih, and he named it Bahji. Later the area was further beautified by ʻAbdu'llah Pasha, and in 1831 when Ibrahim Pasha besieged Acre he used the property as his headquarters. The property was well known for its beautiful gardens and pond fed by an aqueduct. The property then fell into the possession of a Christian family, the Jamals.
  In 1870 ʻUdi Khammar, a wealthy merchant from Acre who also originally owned the House of ʻAbbúd, bought some of the land from the Jamals close to the mansion of ʻAbdu'llah Pasha and built the Mansion of Bahji, over an earlier and smaller building, which Abdu'llah Pasha had had built for his mother. ʻUdi Khammar had built the house for his family, and when he died was buried in a tomb in the south-east corner of the wall directly around the building. In 1879 an epidemic caused the inhabitants to flee and the building became vacant.
context_section_description: The Mansion of Bahjí (Arabic: قصر بهجي‎, Qasr Bahjī, mansion of delight) is a summer house in Acre, Israel where Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, died in 1892. His shrine is located next to this house. The whole area was called Al-Bahjá (Place of Delight).
  The area was originally a garden planted by Sulayman Pasha, who was the ruler of Acre, for his daughter Fatimih, and he named it Bahji. Later the area was further beautified by ʻAbdu'llah Pasha, and in 1831 when Ibrahim Pasha besieged Acre he used the property as his headquarters. The property was well known for its beautiful gardens and pond fed by an aqueduct.  The property then fell into the possession of a Christian family, the Jamals.
  In 1870 ʻUdi Khammar, a wealthy merchant from Acre who also originally owned the House of ʻAbbúd, bought some of the land from the Jamals close to the mansion of ʻAbdu'llah Pasha and built the Mansion of Bahji, over an earlier and smaller building, which Abdu'llah Pasha had had built for his mother. ʻUdi Khammar had built the house for his family, and when he died was buried in a tomb in the south-east corner of the wall directly around the building. In 1879 an epidemic caused the inhabitants to flee and the building became vacant.
  ʻAbdu'l-Bahá first rented, and then purchased, the mansion for Baháʼu'lláh and the Baháʼí holy family to live in, and Baháʼu'lláh moved from Mazra'ih to Bahji and resided in the building until his death. In 1890 the Cambridge orientalist Edward Granville Browne met Baháʼu'lláh in this house; after this meeting he wrote his famous pen-portrait of Baháʼu'lláh. 
  When Baháʼu'lláh died in 1892 he was interred in one of the surrounding buildings, and that building became the shrine of Baháʼu'lláh. After his death in 1898, Baháʼu'lláh's son Ḍíyáʼu'lláh was initially buried next to his father.  However, having been declared a Covenant-breaker, Ḍíyáʼu'lláh's remains were disinterred in a "process" of "purification" through "cleansing" the "inner sanctuary" of the "most hallowed shrine", the "Qiblih" of the "Baháʼí World". The site has since been beautified with paradise gardens, which are termed Haram-i-Aqdas (the Most Holy Precincts or Sanctuary) and are intersected by a circular path which serves to circumambulate the shrine of Baháʼu'lláh. The Mansion, shrine, and surrounding gardens are among the most sacred spots on earth for Baháʼís and are Baháʼí pilgrimage sites.
  On November 12, 1952,  a cablegram sent by Shoghi Effendi announced the "acquisition of vitally-needed property" of the Mansion of Bahji and the area around it from "the  Development Authority of the State of Israel...The exchange of said property, including land and houses, was made possible by the precipitate flight of the former Arab owners."
caption: The final place of exile of Baháʼu'lláh: the Mansion at Bahjí, Acre, Israel.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "E3100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0", "Image DateTime": "2004:07:29 21:23:37", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "236", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "934", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5618", "EXIF ExposureTime": "263713/50000000", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2004:05:11 06:02:33", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2004:05:11 06:02:33", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "960", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}