The Bahá’í World Centre is in the Haifa–Acre area because Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith, was exiled there by the Ottoman authorities in 1868. He later designated Mount Carmel for the faith’s world headquarters; after his death in 1892, his burial place near Acre became its holiest shrine. The centre developed around these places of exile, revelation and pilgrimage.
From Persia to Ottoman Acre
Bahá’u’lláh was born in Tehran in 1817. After persecution and imprisonment in Persia, he was exiled in 1853, first to Baghdad and later through Ottoman territories. In 1868, Ottoman authorities sent him and about 70 family members and followers to Acre, then a penal colony. The confinement order remained in force, though he was eventually able to live outside the city walls. He spent his final years at Bahjí, near Acre, and died there in 1892. Bahá’ís regard his shrine at Bahjí as their holiest place.
The Bahá’í World News Service chronology records this sequence and the establishment of the community’s centre in the area. The Ottoman exile explains why the centre arose here: it was not founded through a later political agreement or a decision by the modern Israeli state.
Why Mount Carmel became the centre
During a visit to Haifa in 1891, Bahá’u’lláh designated Mount Carmel as the site of the faith’s spiritual and administrative centre. He also directed that the remains of the Báb, the faith’s herald, be buried there. The Báb had been executed in Tabriz in 1850. His remains were brought to Mount Carmel and interred in a mausoleum in 1909; the golden-domed Shrine of the Báb was completed in 1953.
The World Centre therefore spans two cities and two central shrines: the Shrine of the Báb in Haifa and the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh near Acre. UNESCO’s listing of the Bahá’í Holy Places describes the property as sites at seven locations in Haifa and the Western Galilee, including the shrines, gardens, buildings and monuments associated with Bahá’í pilgrimage.
A spiritual and administrative centre
The gardens and shrines are the spiritual heart of the site; Mount Carmel also houses international administrative institutions. The Universal House of Justice, the faith’s elected international governing council, has its permanent seat in Haifa. Its first election took place in 1963. The council has nine members elected every five years by members of national Bahá’í assemblies, as explained in the official description of the Universal House of Justice.
Explore the Báb’s remains and shrine, the terraces and UNESCO listing, and the Universal House of Justice and the Arc for more on the sites and institutions established here.