Takht-e Foulad
Takht-e Foulad | |
---|---|
تخته فولاد | |
General information | |
Type | cemetery |
Address | Isfahan Province, Isfahan, Takht Foulad, Valeh St, Iran |
Town or city | Isfahan |
Country | Iran |
Coordinates | 32°37′39″N 51°40′59″E / 32.62750°N 51.68306°E |
Known for | Containing the mausoleums of prominent clerics, scholars and ascetics, as well as the graves of martyrs who were killed in the Iranian Revolution. |
Takht-e Foulad (Persian: تخته فولاد), also known as Lissanul Arz is a historical cemetery in Isfahan, Iran. It is a large funerary complex that includes several historic mausoleums, mosques, tekyehs, sub-cemeteries and standalone graves.[1][2]
History
[edit]The exact origins of the cemetery are not known, but some historians have theorised that it may have pre-Islamic origins.[2] During the rule of the Mongol Ilkhanate in the 14th century, the mausoleum of Baba Rokneddin Shirazi was built, and the cemetery was named after him.[2] The cemetery subsequently became a place for Sufi dervishes to have mystical gatherings.[2]
The cemetery was expanded in the Safavid period, under the rule of Suleiman I of Persia.[2] But later on during the rule of Safavid Shah Soltan Hoseyn, many of the mausoleums from the Ilkhanid era were demolished, under the orders of Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi, the Shaykhul Islam hired by the ruler. The Sufis and their dervishes were also banned from visiting the cemetery, regardless whether they were Shi'ite or not.[2] During the rule of Nader Shah Afshar, the cemetery was largely ignored, save for a small number of burials.[2]
During the Qajar period, Fath-Ali Shah Qajar built a tekyeh in the cemetery, which he dedicated to his mother.[2] In the 20th century, however, Mass'oud Mirza Zell-e Soltan, the Qajar prince who governed Isfahan, demolished several Safavid-era structures in the cemetery.[2] Later on in the same century, in the 1980s, a sub-cemetery was established around the grave of cleric Abolhassan Shamsabadi, and in the cemetery were buried those who were killed in the Haft-e Tir Bombing and Iranian Revolution.[3]
During Pahlavi rule, the cemetery had become full. Locals were then forbidden from carrying out any further burials.[2] They were still allowed to visit the sites in the cemetery, however.[2]
Landmarks in the cemetery
[edit]Mausoleum of Baba Rokneddin
[edit]Baba Rukn al-Din, or Baba Rokneddin, was one of the most prominent Persian Sufis in the 14th century. He died in 1367,[4] and the mausoleum was built during the Ilkhanid era.[2] It had fallen into disrepair later on, and was later restored during the Safavid era under Shah Abbas I.[5][6] It is the only structure from the Ilkhanid era to survive till modern day.[2]
Khatoon Abadi Mausoleum
[edit]One of the tekyeh buildings located in the cemetery. Clerics belonging to the Khatoon Abadi family are buried in there, an example being Mohammed Hossein Khatunabadi, a Shi'ite Hadith scholar.[1] There is a small cellar underneath the tomb, speculated to be a place where the ascetic-inclined Khatunabadi secluded himself and meditated.[1]
Mausoleum of Mir Fendereski
[edit]The burial place of the famous mystic and scholar in the Safavid era, Mir Fendereski.[1] His grave has a stone tombstone, which bears the date 1640, the year he died. Next to the grave, a ghazal of the poet Hafez, in the Nastaliq script style, made with stucco, by Mir Emad Hassani, is visible on the wall of the place.
Mausoleum of Agha Hossein Khansari
[edit]Agha Hossein Khansari was a very influential scientist and scholar in the court of the Safavid ruler Suleiman I.[6] His mausoleum is topped with a single cupola dome, and it is the only mausoleum in the cemetery which was built for a scientist or engineer.[6]
Roknolmolk Mosque
[edit]It was formerly known as the Aksa Mosque. The mosque was built in the Qajar era, and is at the edge of the Takht-e Foulad cemetery. The mosque has a room that contains the graves of both Roknolmolk and his wife, located near to the entrance, as well as a mausoleum for clerics of the Kalbasi family.
Mohammad Jafar Abadei Tekyeh
[edit]Established by the Qajar viceroy, Roknolmolk, named for the Shi'ite scholar, Mohammad Ja'far Abadei.[7] It is adjacent to the Roknolmolk Mosque.
Golestan-e Shohada Cemetery
[edit]This smaller sub-cemetery is attached to the cemetery of Takht-e Foulad.[8][9] The cemetery is where several martyrs are buried, hence the name Shohada, is a Persianized form of the word Shuhada which means Martyr in Arabic. One of the first burials in the cemetery is that of Abolhassan Shamsabadi. Those killed in the Haft-e Tir Bombing of 1981, and those who lost their lives during the Iranian Revolution are buried here as well.[3]
Within the cemetery, there is also a cenotaph attributed as a grave to the Biblical prophet Joshua[10][11] however there is no evidence that he is buried there.
See also
[edit]- List of historical structures in Isfahan for a list of other mausoleums, mosques and other Islamic heritage in the Isfahan Province
- List of mausoleums in Iran for a complete list of mausolea in Iran.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "قبرستان تخت فولاد". Kojaro (in Persian).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "گورستان تخت فولاد؛ تاریخچه + راه های دسترسی - مجله مِستر بلیط" (in Persian). 28 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ a b "قطعه های گلستان شهدا". sahebnews.ir (in Persian). Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ "Bābā Rukn al-Dīn Shīrāzī". Encyclopaedia Islamica. doi:10.1163/1875-9831_isla_com_0000009. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ Mahdawi. Tadhkirat al-qubūr. p. 153.
- ^ a b c Hosseyn Yaghoubi (2004). Arash Beheshti (ed.). Rāhnamā ye Safar be Ostān e Esfāhān (Travel Guide for the Province Isfahan) (in Persian). Rouzane. p. 121. ISBN 964-334-218-2.
- ^ "رکن الملک (سلیمان)".
- ^ "تاريخچه گلستان شهدا" (in Persian). Archived from the original on 5 September 2016.
- ^ "خبرگزاری فارس - تخت فولاد؛ قدیمیترین قبرستان بعد از وادیالسلام+تصاویر". خبرگزاری فارس. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ "تجمع در اعتراض به ساختوساز در گلستان شهدای اصفهان". اقتصادنیوز (in Persian). 28 May 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ "خبرگزاری فارس - تخت فولاد؛ قدیمیترین قبرستان بعد از وادیالسلام+تصاویر". خبرگزاری فارس. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2023.