La Paz

La Paz
City in Bolivia
Bahá’í Continental Conference, La Paz, Bolivia, 1970.
Location of La Paz
History: Firsts
-	Pioneers	1940, Eleanor Adler
-	Local Assembly	1945
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La Paz is a city in Bolivia which is the seat of the country's government. It was the first city in Bolivia to have a Bahá’í community and the first to have a Local Spiritual Assembly.

History

La Paz was the first city in Bolivia in which a Bahá’í lived with Eleanor Adler pioneering to the city in December 1940, remaining until July 1941. During her time in the city three people declared and in 1942 Flora Hottes pioneered to the city to support the fledgling community. In 1944 Virginia Orbison visited La Paz to support teaching efforts, and in 1945 the Local Spiritual Assembly of La Paz was established. Elisabeth Cheney visited the city shortly after the Assemblies formation, and by 1946 Gwenne Sholtis had pioneered to the city with three people declaring early that year. In 1948 Esteban Canales visited La Paz delivering a talk to a crowd of almost eighty people on the Faith, and that year the La Paz Assembly was incorporated.

In 1950 a Regional Teaching Conference for Bolivia and Peru was held in La Paz, and later in the year a study institute was held in the city to deepen the community. In 1951 La Paz elected a delegate to participate in the first election of the National Spiritual Assembly of South America, being the only Bolivian community to contribute a delegate to the convention, and as of that year the National Publishing Committee for South America had established itself based in La Paz.

In 1955 Gayle Woolson visited La Paz and supported intensive teaching activities taking place, and that year the Annual Bahá’í Convention for South America was held in the city. In 1956 a building was acquired in La Paz to serve as a National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds for Bolivia. In March 1958 a month long deepening school was held in La Paz to train native Bolivian Bahá’ís to serve as travel teachers and pioneers within Bolivia, with its graduates going on to secure many declarations across the country. In 1959 Hand of the Cause Hermann Grossmann visited La Paz while touring Bolivia, and in 1960 land was purchased near the city for the construction of a Temple at some point in the future.

In 1961 the National Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia was established at the countries inaugural National Convention which was held at the Bahá’í Center of La Paz with Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir attending the event. During the year large numbers of native Bolivians began to join the Faith especially in La Paz, and in 1962 Abu’l-Qásim Faizí visited the city while touring Bolivia.

In 1970 a major Continental Conference for the Bahá’ís of South America was held in La Paz with Rúḥíyyih Khánum attending. In 1974 construction began on a recording studio in the La Paz Bahá’í Center to potentially establish a Bahá’í radio station in the city. In 1979 a National Deepening Institute to train travel teachers planning to conduct tours across Bolivia was held in La Paz, and the Bahá’í International Community was invited to send a representative to that years session of the Economic Commission for Latin America held in the city. In 1982 the Trail of Light teaching team, made up of Native American Bahá’ís, visited La Paz.

The Bahá’í community of La Paz remains active to the present day and in February, 2024, the Bolivian Bahá’í Office of External Affairs held a forum in La Paz gathering government officials, academics, journalists, and civil society leaders to discuss women's education in the context of social progress.