AT last came a day, four months after the death of the Purest Branch, when the

AT last came a day, four months after the death of the Purest Branch, when the movement of troops in the Ottoman domain compelled the authorities to have access to and make use of the barracks of 'Akká. The gates were flung open and the exiles were sent to other accommodation within the city walls. Bahá’u’lláh and His family were moved to the house of Malik, in the Fakhurah quarter, in the western part of the prison-city.

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The majority of the companions were lodged in a caravanserai, called Khan-i-'Avamid, close to the sea-shore. But a number of them found separate homes. Aqay-i-Kalim and his family went to live in a house within the compound of the caravanserai. The Khan-i-'Avamid or Khan al-'Umdan was built by Ahmad al-Jazzar using pillars brought from Caesarea. Its clock tower is a more modern structure, having been built to commemorate the jubilee of Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Hamid.

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It served as the first pilgrim house of the Holy Land and many eminent Bahá’ís, including Mishkin-Qalam, Zaynu'l-Muqarrabin and Haji Mirza Haydar-'Ali, resided there. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá frequently entertained the pilgrims there and it is probable that Bahá’u’lláh also visited it.

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