Shah Cheragh Mausoleum in Shiraz

Shah Cheragh is the tomb of Sayyid Mir Ahmad, brother of the eighth Shia imam Reza, who died in Shiraz in the ninth century. Legend has it that the grave was found much later by a light coming from under the ground, and hence the name, King of the Light. The mausoleum took its present shape in the fourteenth century under Queen Tashi Khatun and was rebuilt many times afterwards. The onion dome is covered with turquoise tile, and a wide portico with wooden columns is attached to it, opening onto a spacious courtyard with a marble pool and geometric paving. The interior rooms are entirely finished with mirror mosaic: millions of small facets cover the vaults, walls and niches and break the lamplight into separate sparks. Over the grave itself stands a silver lattice, the zarih. This is one of the main places of Shia pilgrimage in Iran, and visitors are constantly sitting and praying in the courtyard. The neighbouring buildings are occupied by a theological school and a museum. One of the country's main shrines and a strict place: non-Muslims are let into the courtyard, and into the inner halls usually with a companion from the office for foreigners. Dress as conservatively as possible; women are given a chador. The mirrored halls are especially striking in the evening under the lamps.

On the map