UNESCO lists Baha'i sites

Two Baha'i shrines are the latest Israeli sites to join UNESCO's World Heritage List.

The United Nations Educations, Scientific and Cultural Organization announced Tuesday that it was adding Baha'i shrines in Haifa and Acre to its protected list.

The sites, which include 26 buildings, "are inscribed for the testimony they provide to the Bahai's' strong tradition of pilgrimage and for their profound meaning for the faith," UNESCO said in a statement.

The Baha'i faith, a 19th-century offshoot of Islam that preaches the unity of all major religions, considers Haifa the future capital of the world.

The movement's gilded shrine dominates the Carmel Mountain, being the premier landmark for Israel's biggest port. The two shrines are known for the formal gardens that surround them. In addition to Baha'i pilgrims, they attract hundreds of thousands of visitors and tourists every year.

UNESCO has listed several Israeli sites since 2001, including Masada and the Bauhaus quarter of Tel Aviv.

“The Baha'i community is particularly grateful to the government of Israel for putting forward this nomination,” said Albert Lincoln, the secretary-general of the Baha'i International Community.

The Bahá'í Faith is a religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia.[1] There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories.[2][3]

Bahá'í teachings emphasize the spiritual oneness of humanity and the underlying unity of the major world religions. Religious history is seen to have unfolded through the influence of a series of divinely-sent messengers, each of whom established a religion that was suited to the needs of the time. These messengers have included Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad and, most recently, the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh. In Bahá'í belief, each messenger taught that other messengers would follow, and Bahá'u'lláh's claims and teachings fulfil the eschatological promises of previous scriptures. Humanity is understood to be involved in a process of collective evolution, and the need of the present time is for the gradual establishment of peace, justice and unity on a global scale.[4]

The word "Bahá'í" (/bæhɒːʔiː/, /bəˈhai/, Persian: بهائی) is used either as an adjective to refer to the Bahá'í Faith or as a term for a follower of Bahá'u'lláh, and the word is not a noun meaning the religion as a whole. It is derived from the Arabic Bahá’, meaning "glory" or "splendour".[5] "Bahaism" (or "Baha'ism") has been used in the past but is fading from use.