World wonder: Israel's Baha'i Gardens

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Haifa Israel's Baha'i Gardens are meant to be a place of meditation and reflection for Baha'i religious followers visiting the organization's main center in Israel.

Baha'i Deputy Secretary-General Carmel Irandoust tells CGTN that the planning and design are meant to encourage people "to slow down, pay attention to what's around them and meditate as they make their way to the shrine.”

The shrine in Israel's Baha'i Gardens. /CGTN Photo

About Baha'i and the gardens

The Baha'i faith was envisioned by a man called “The Bab” in Iran in the 1800s and formally founded by his self-proclaimed prophet “Bahá'u'lláh” – or “Glory of God” in the late 1800s.

Iran's government exiled Bahá'u'lláh and he spent time in numerous prisons, including in Israel's Acre port where he wrote scriptures and holy texts used by Baha'i followers today.

His successor traveled around the world spreading the word and gathering followers.

Baha'i is a monotheistic faith that teaches universal unity and equality. It is similar to other religions in its messianic teachings and is frequently linked with Islam but the faith adheres to the belief that all messiahs of the major religions i.e. Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, etc. are messengers bearing guidelines for individual holy destinies.

Baha'i has between 5-8 million followers worldwide with religious shrines on every continent. Baha'i officials say all grounds, religious sites and gardens are funded by anonymous donors.

A garden in Israel's Baha'i Gardens. /CGTN Photo

The gardens: A 70-year project

Construction on the Baha'i shrine and gardens in Haifa Israel started in the 1930s and took 70 years and 250 million U.S. dollars to complete. The gardens spread out over 19 terraces and were designed according to Bahá'u'lláh's vision and instruction.

There are more than 450 different varieties of plants and flowers on the grounds maintained by 160 garden department irrigation technicians, tree care specialists, horticulturists and pest management team members.

Gardeners in Israel's Baha'i Gardens. /CGTN Photo

Maintenance teams spend 10 hours a day, five days a week gardening and weeding. Chief horticulturist Darlene Robinson, a Canada transplant to the Middle East, says hers is a “dream job.”

Robinson tells CGTN annual water usage amounts to 40 Olympic size swimming pools. She won't divulge the temple's water bill costs but makes a point of emphasizing the temple's use of drip irrigation technology to cut out water waste.

The Baha'i Gardens are a UNESCO World Heritage site that was visited by 1.3 million people in 2018.

(Cover: The Baha'i Gardens in Haifa, Israel. /CGTN Photo)