Views of Akka
I’ve created a new website to share a rare book of historic Bahá’í photographs dating from approximately 1898. Images of the interior of the most holy tomb, the Garden of Ridván, the Most Great Prison, early Bahji, Akka, Haifa, and others are included. Scholarly commentary for each photograph and a general overview were written by Prof. Duane Troxel. References are included for further study. The scans are very high quality and are also downloadable in PDF format.
The 42 hand-tinted photographs that make up the core of this publication were scanned from an early Bahá’í publication whose title page states: Views of Acca, Haifa, Mt. Carmel, and Other Places, published by the Bahá’í Publishing Society, Chicago, U.S.A. The book has been mentioned in The Baha’i World and Star of the West. One of the things which makes this book so extraordinary, besides its age, historical importance, and the coloring of the pictures is that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá approved the images Himself. The title page declares: “These photographs were duly authorized by ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ and are placed in this form for the benefit of those who long to see the dwelling place of the most high.”
The image above is a composite of the original title page and a hand colored photograph of Mt. Carmel in Haifa as it appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. Of course, now it’s a bustling cosmopolitan city. Many travel posters prominently feature its most noticeable landmark, the Bahá’í gardens and the world administrative center located within them.
This website would not have been possible without the help of the book’s owner, Erica Toussaint, who made the patient and helpful suggestions that enhanced its usability. The high quality scans were done by Bill Dvorak. I treated the scans as Camera Raw images in Photoshop and applied recovery, noise reduction, clarity, and vibrance filters to enhance their presentation. The website is located at http://www.viewsofakka.com/.
Mt. Carmel today.
Mt. Carmel during the time of Bahá’u'lláh.
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The Movement of Trees
I had the bounty of visiting old growth Redwood forests in California many times. Once when my boys were ages six and eight respectively we drove down to the Bay Area from Oregon along the Old Redwood Highway. We took detours into some stands of ancient trees including the tallest one that is still standing. It was about as tall as a 35-story building.
On the drive through Northern California we passed a logging operation where hundreds of old growth trees had been logged. My 8-year-old son turned to me and said, “Daddy, someone murdered those trees” and I said “Yes, that’s exactly what they did.”
How can an artist portray a tree in such a way as to make it appear to move? Vincent Van Gogh achieved movement in every painting he ever made of nature as did Marc Chagall. Note how the living Sun occupies the entire sky.
When I am finishing a picture, I hold some God-made object up to it – a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand – as a final test. If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there’s a clash between the two, it’s bad art. – Marc Chagall
Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. — Warren Buffet
“Flowers swung upon her branches in clusters of yellow flame, formed each to a glowing horn that spilled a golden rain upon the ground; and from the blossom of that tree there came forth warmth and a great light.” — So Tolkien writes of Laurelin, the Golden Tree
The Bahá’í Writings include countless references to trees in symbolic and powerful metaphors.
Bahá’u'lláh, The Persian Hidden Words
The Ridván is a beautiful garden, which the Master had planted in a plot of land which He had acquired. It is on the bank of a brook. There is a large mulberry tree with seats round its trunk. Many beautiful blossoming trees are now flourishing there, also flowers innumerable, and sweet-smelling herbs; it is a blaze of glorious colour and wonderful beauty. The scent of attar roses, of rosemary, bergamot, mint and thyme and balm, lemon-scented verbena, and musk makes the air sweet with their wealth of various fragrances. Scented white and scarlet and rose-coloured geraniums are there in wild luxuriance, and trees of pomegranate with their large, brilliant scarlet blossoms, also other lovely blooming shrubs. Each a symbol of devoted, loving service. — Lady Blomfield, The Chosen Highway, p. 96
After driving for about half an hour we reached the garden where Bahá’u'lláh spent much of His time during His long years of exile in ‘Akká. Although this garden is small it is one of the loveliest spots we had ever seen. Bahá’u'lláh frequently said to His gardener, Abu’l-Qasim, ‘This is the most beautiful garden in the world.’ With its tall trees, its wealth of flowers, and its fountains, it lies like a peerless gem surrounded by two limpid streams of water just as it is described in the Qur’án; and the atmosphere which pervades it is so fraught with sacred memories, with divine significance, with heavenly-peace and calm that one no longer marvels to hear of the traveller who, passing one day before its gates, paused and gazing in saw Bahá’u'lláh seated beneath the shade of the mulberry tree, ‘that canopy not made with hands,’ and remembering the prophecy in the Qur’án, he recognized his Lord and hastened to prostrate himself at His feet. — Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u'lláh v 4, p. 29
The zeal and devotion of the gardeners who tended the plants and laboured day and night to make the Garden of Ridván a place of beauty for Bahá’u'lláh to enjoy, was no less striking. The Garden of Ridván was situated on a very small island. The little river, which emptied into the sea, divided itself into two streams surrounding that small area of land. In the time of Bahá’u'lláh the garden was laid out in flower-beds and there were many ornamental shrubs and fruit trees. There was a splashing fountain from which water was fed to all parts of the garden. As it flowed, it came rippling down in a broad stream over a stone platform under two large mulberry trees. The stream which flowed by the island was about fourteen to fifteen feet wide and three feet deep; fish were darting about it in abundance. It was fringed with weeping willows, and the fragrance of jasmine and orange blossoms filled the air. Most of these features are preserved today, except that there is no water circling the garden, for the streams have been diverted in recent times.
Whenever Bahá’u'lláh visited the Garden of Ridván it was a joyous occasion not only for Himself but for the Master and all the friends. The atmosphere in this oasis of beauty brought some relaxation to Bahá’u'lláh as He sat on a rectangular bench placed in the shade of the two large mulberry trees. Many believers attained His presence there, and they too sat on similar benches. Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u'lláh v 4, p. 12
I visited the Ridván Garden outside of `Akká, Israel back in 1973. This is a preliminary sketch of one tree in the garden whose movement and beauty captivated me.
This is one of the variations that I developed from the preliminary version.
I collected a few passages from the Bahá’í Writings that mention Trees
Tags: Adib Taherzadeh, Artist, California, Garden of Ridván, gardener, Israel, Marc Chagall, Old Redwood Highway, Oregon, Redwood forests, Ridván Garden, Vincent Van GoghRelated posts
Sacred Gardens
Some of Bahá’u'lláh’s most beautiful and ecstatic writings are His luminous descriptions of gardens. Bahá’u'lláh declared his divine mission in a garden in Baghdad in 1863. He frequented the beautiful Garden of Ridván near Akká and wrote tablets describing wondrous visions he beheld in that garden. (See The Movement of Trees for a description and a painting of the Garden of Ridván.) Best known are the beautiful world famous Bahá’i gardens on the slopes of Mt. Carmel in Haifa.
(C) Copyright Cary Enoch Reinstein
From the garden of whose soul will the blossoms of the invisible realities spring forth?
Bahá’u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 60
A divine Mine only can yield the gems of divine knowledge, and the fragrance of the mystic Flower can be inhaled only in the ideal Garden, and the lilies of ancient wisdom can blossom nowhere except in the city of a stainless heart.
Bahá’u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 191
Shouldst thou, by the leave of God, enter this sublime and exalted garden, thou wouldst find its sun in its noontide glory, never to set, never to be eclipsed.
Bahá’u'lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 71
Consider how all created things eloquently testify to the revelation of that inner Light within them. Behold how within all things the portals of the Ridván of God are opened, that seekers may attain the cities of understanding and wisdom, and enter the gardens of knowledge and power. Within every garden they will behold the mystic bride of inner meaning enshrined within the chambers of utterance in the utmost grace and fullest adornment.
Bahá’u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 139)
After this heavenly journey and mystical ascent the wayfarer will enter within the Garden of Wonderment.
Bahá’u'lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 67
O Thou the Compassionate God. Bestow upon me a heart which, like unto glass, may be illumined with the light of Thy love, and confer upon me thoughts which may change this world into a rose garden through the outpourings of heavenly grace.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Compilations, Bahá’í Prayers, p. 70
Download a compilation from the Bahá’í Writings referring to gardens.
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