The Bahai Gardens in Haifa are an elaborate setting for the tomb of the religion's Persian founder, the Báb (literally "gate," most likely cognate, I suspect, with the Aramaic word "baba"). They cascade down Mount Carmel toward the Mediterranean in a series of 19 beautiful and immaculately groomed terraces, one each for the Báb and his 18 disciples. The garden circulates water in a series of fountains and is lit 24/7, by the sun during the day and by numerous lights at night. The tomb, which until about a decade ago was a simple rectangular building, has been recently encased in a grander structure with godlen dome and marble arches with inlaid tiles reminiscent of the Taj Mahal (an even more famous tomb).
View of the gardens from above:
One of the lovely terraces, this photo gives you a feel for how you really are on the side of a mountain:
Water circulates through a channel on the edge of the stairs:
Two other visitors on our tour, Eric and Bruce. We were all late for the tour because we made mistakes on the various buses in Haifa, and ended up sprinting a good quarter mile together to make it in time (tours given only once a day). The sprint accounts for our unfortunately shiny appearance...
Now we've descended several terraces; this view still looks down. (Views looking uphill didn't work well because I was shooting right into the sun.)
Recently constructed building for the Bahai archives. I wish our tour guide had more information about the architectural choices made in the garden. The tomb itself looks Islamic-inspired, and this is obviously neo-classical.
This is about as close as we could get to the Báb's gold-domed tomb which was gated and locked on the afternoon we visited:
One of the lower terraces:
Another view of a lower terrace:
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