'Abdu'l-Bahá appointed His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, to be the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith. Besides supporting the Faith as it became a world religion, he further developed the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb.  To the original six rooms of the Shrine of the Báb, he added three more identical rooms of local stone.  Thus, it totaled nine rooms with the tomb in the center.  Later, He asked Canadian Bahá'í Architect William Sutherland Maxwell to design a befitting superstructure over these sacred rooms (D-210).  It was completed in 1953, and has a colonnade of Italian Rose Baveno granite.  This supports the Italian carved Chaimpo stone octagonal form, drum, and gold tiled dome (W-2).  The drum has eighteen windows in honor of the eighteen people who spontaneously recognized the station of the Báb before His public declaration.

In the photo on the right, a lamp hangs from the ceiling between the colonnade of the superstructure and the original rooms.  Pilgrims can circumambulate in any direction under the colonnade or around it on the crushed tile path.  Inside the white door is a prayer room with a high arched ceiling and a floor covered in Persian carpets.  A few oriental vases are in the corners, and a chandelier illuminates the room.  This room faces a large opening into the central room where the Báb's remains were laid to rest.  On the threshold between these rooms is a large vase of flowers.  Pilgrims do not enter this central room but can look in at its beautifully arranged Persian carpets, floor lamps, vases, and flowers.  There are more flowers outside the Shrine in the formal gardens made by Shoghi Effendi.

  Superstructure Details