The hour is ripe to undertake the preliminaries for the erection of the octagonal first unit of the superstructure, another milestone in the process set in motion sixty years ago by Bahá’u’lláh’s visit to Mount Carmel. This process which gathered momentum through the transportation of His Holiness, the Báb’s remains to the Holy Land after fifty years’ concealment, through the erection of the sanctuary by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the darkest years of His Ministry, through the entombment of the remains by Him on the morrow of His forty year incarceration, through the commencement of the construction of the arcade on the fortieth anniversary of the interment of the Holy Dust, through the termination of the parapet on the eve of the Centenary of the Báb’s martyrdom, must be accelerated through the erection of the dome, attaining consummation through the emergence of the institutions of the world administrative center of the Faith in the vicinity of its world spiritual Center, signalizing the sailing of the Divine Ark on God’s Mountain, prophesied in the Tablet of Carmel. I appeal to entire body of believers to seize this priceless opportunity to stimulate the unfoldment of this process through generous, sustained contributions for the furtherance of an enterprise transcending any national institution whether Hazírá or Ma_sh_riqu’l-A_dh_kár, reared in the past or in process of construction. The hour is propitious, particularly during the three year interval separating the Centennials of the Báb’s martyrdom and the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission, coinciding with the hundredth anniversary of the greatest holocaust in the history of the Faith, to repay part of the infinite debt of gratitude owed its martyrs, through hastening the conclusion of the holiest enterprise since the dawn of the Revelation, interwoven with the ministries of Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, linking the Heroic and Formative Ages of the Bahá’í Dispensation, cementing the ties binding the communities of the East and West with the World Center of the Faith and shedding imperishable luster on the first and second centuries of the Bahá’í Era, which posterity will hail as the most befitting tribute to the One Who made the most precious sacrifice for the sake of the most sublime Faith in mankind’s spiritual history. —Shoghi [July 7, 1950] OPENING DOOR TO PILGRIMAGE Announce to friends the delivery after more than fifty years of key to Qasr Mazra’ih by Israel authorities. Historic dwelling place of Bahá’u’lláh after leaving Prison City of Akká now being furnished in anticipation opening door to pilgrimage. —Shoghi [Cablegram, December 16, 1950] FORMATION OF FIRST INTERNATIONAL BAHÁ’Í COUNCIL