ional endowments in the United States of America now exceed
three million dollars. The area of land purchased on the slopes of the
Elburz Mountains, overlooking the city of Tihran, in anticipation of the
construction of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of Persia, has reached
approximately four million square meters. The area of land dedicated to
the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, in the vicinity of the confines of the Holy
Land, exceeds two million three hundred thousand square meters. The area
of land dedicated to the Shrine of the Bab and registered in the name of
the Israel branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States of America, is more than one hundred thousand square meters.
Over one hundred and fifty thousand square meters of land have been
dedicated to the Faith in the Antipodes, eighty thousand square meters in
the Territory of Alaska, whilst the lands contributed in Latin America for
a similar purpose approximate one-half of a million square meters, ninety
thousand of which have been set aside near Santiago, Chile, for the first
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of South America. The estimated value of the
national Baha'i administrative headquarters established in Tihran, in
Wilmette, Illinois, in Ba_gh_dad, in Cairo, in New Delhi, in Sydney, in
Frankfurt and in Toronto, exceeds one and three-quarters of a million
dollars. The Baha'i spiritual assemblies now incorporated number one
hundred and fourteen, of which nine are national and the rest local
assemblies, fifty-six of which are in the United States of America,
sixteen in India, eleven in South America, six in Central America, three
each in Pakistan, in Burma and in Canada, two in Australia and one each in
Germany, in Balu_ch_istan, in New Zealand, in the Philippine Islands and
in Malaya. The Baha'i marriage certificate has been recognized by the
Israel civil authorities, as well as by twenty-one federal districts and
states of the United States of America. The Baha'i holy days have been
recognized by the Ministry of Education of the State of Israel, in the
British Isles, by the state of Victoria in Australia, in Anchorage,
Alaska, in Washington, D.C. and in seven states of the American Union.
National Baha'i conferences have been held in recent years in Bern,
Zurich, Basel, Rome; national Baha'i women's conventions and youth
conferences have convened in Tihran, whilst regional teaching conferences
have been organized in Buenos Aires, in Panama Ci