Dome of Soltaniyeh

Soltaniyeh, “the imperial”, was founded as a capital by the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty on a high grassland plain west of Qazvin. Its centrepiece is the mausoleum of the Ilkhan Oljeitu, built between about 1302 and 1312. The city has long since shrunk to a village, but the tomb survives, rising high above the fields. It was inscribed by UNESCO in 2005.

The mausoleum is an octagon crowned by a dome of brick about fifty metres high, one of the largest brick domes in the world. Eight minarets once rose from the corners of the roof, and the dome was clad in turquoise tile, some of which survives. The dome is built as a double shell, an inner and an outer skin of brick, and its design is often cited as a precursor of later great domes of the Islamic world.

Inside, the vast octagonal hall shows two layers of decoration: an earlier scheme of glazed tile and carved plaster, and a later painted scheme added when the building's use changed. Oljeitu, who converted to Shia Islam during his reign, is said to have hoped to move the remains of Ali and Husayn here; that plan was never carried out. Scaffolding for restoration has been part of the view for years.