The beloved Guardian made it clear that the flowering of the
arts which is the result of a divine revelation comes only after a number of
centuries. The Bahá'í Faith offers the world the complete rebuilding of human
society -- a rebuilding of such far-reaching effect that it has been looked
forward to in all the revelations of the past and has been called the
establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. The new architecture to which
this revelation will give birth will blossom many generations hence. We are now
merely at the beginning of this great process.
The present time is a period of turmoil and change.
Architecture, like all arts and sciences, is undergoing very rapid development;
one has only to consider the changes that have taken place in the course of the
last few decades to have some idea of what is likely to happen during the years
immediately ahead. Some modern buildings have, no doubt, qualities of greatness
and will endure, but very much of what is being constructed now may be outgrown
and may appear ugly but a few generations hence. Modern architecture, in other
words, may be considered a new development in its primitive stage.
- The
Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 18 July 1974 to an individual;
compilations: ‘The Importance of the Arts in Promoting the Faith’)