Mansion of Bahjí

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The final place of exile of Bahá'u'lláh: the Mansion at Bahjí, Acre, Israel.

The Mansion of Bahjí is a term used to describe a summer house where Bahá'u'lláh died in 1892. His Shrine is located next to this house.

It was built in 1870 over a smaller building from much earlier by `Udi Khammar, a wealthy merchant from Akká who also originally owned the House of `Abbúd. `Udi Khammar died and was buried in a tomb in the south east corner of the wall directly around the building.

It remained in his families hands until 1879 when an epidemic caused the inhabitants to flee, and so they rented it to the Bahá'í holy family for a very small amount of money. Bahá'u'lláh's second wife, Mahd-i-'Ulya and her children lived in the house.

In 1890 the Cambridge orientalist Edward Granville Browne met Bahá'u'lláh in this house. After this meeting he wrote his famous pen-portrait of Bahá'u'lláh.

After Bahá'u'lláh died in 1892, it was held by one of Mahd-i-'Ulya's sons, Mírzá Muhammad `Alí, until November 1929 [1] when it was bought back by Shoghi Effendi.

It is now a Bahá'í pilgrimage site.