page_title: Baháʼí House of Worship
section_title: Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
hierarchical_section_title: Baháʼí House of Worship / History / Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
caption_attribution_description: English: Bahai House of Worship Ashkabad Turkministan; image derives from photo published prior to 1923 Русский: Дом Поклонения бахаи в г. Ашхабаде (1912 г.)
context_page_description: A Baháʼí House of Worship, also referred to by the name Mashriqu-l-Adhkár, an Arabic phrase meaning "Dawning-place of the remembrance of God",
  is the designation of a place of worship, or temple, of the Baháʼí Faith. The teachings of the religion envisage Houses of Worship being surrounded by a number of dependencies dedicated to social, humanitarian, educational, and scientific pursuits, although none has yet been built to such an extent.
  Eleven Baháʼí Houses of Worship have been built around the world, Ten currently stand including eight continental temples and two local temples. In the Ridván Message for 2012, the Universal House of Justice announced new initiatives for future Houses of Worship, calling for the first national and locally based institutions. The first two "national Mashriqu'l-Adhkars" are to be raised up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Papua New Guinea. With successful growth and cluster development it was also announced that the first local Houses of Worship would be erected. Baháʼí communities own many properties where Houses of Worship remain to be constructed as the Baháʼí community grows and develops further.
context_section_description: The first Baháʼí House of Worship was built in the city of ʻIshqábád, then ruled by Russia and now the capital of Turkmenistan.  It was started in 1902 and completed in 1908. The design was prepared by Ostad Ali-Akbar Banna, and the construction was supervised by Vakílu'd-Dawlih, later named one of the nineteen Apostles of Baháʼu'lláh.
  ʻIshqábád is located in the desert plain of western Turkmenistan near the foothills of the Alborz Mountains. Under the protection and freedom given by the Russian authorities, the number of Baháʼís there rose to over 1,000 and for the first time anywhere in the world a true Baháʼí community was established, with its own schools, medical facilities, cemetery, etc. Eventually the Baháʼís in ʻIshqábád decided to build the institution of the spiritual and social heart of the Baháʼí community: the Mas͟hriqu'l-Ad͟hkár.
  The House of Worship itself was surrounded by gardens. At the four corners of the garden were four buildings: a school, a hostel where travelling Baháʼís were entertained, a small hospital, and a building for groundskeepers. The Baháʼís lived as much as possible in proximity to the House of Worship. It was the centre of the community materially, as well as spiritually.  The House of Worship in ʻIshqábád has been the only house of worship thus far to have the humanitarian subsidiaries associated with the institution built alongside it.
  After serving the community for two decades, the House of Worship was expropriated by the Soviet authorities in 1928 and leased back to the Baháʼís.  This lasted until 1938, when it was fully secularized and turned into an art gallery. The 1948 Ashgabat earthquake seriously damaged the building and rendered it unsafe; the heavy rains of the following years weakened the structure, and it was demolished in 1963 and the site converted into a public park.
caption: The first Baháʼí House of Worship
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