SOLTANIYEH MAUSOLEUM (GONBAD-E SOLTANIYEH)

Capital of the Mongols Ilkhan - soltaniyeh literally means "the city of sultans" - built at the beginning of the xivth century, there is now only a village of 6,500 souls, living around the immense mausoleum of the Mongolian sultan Uldjatu Khudabendeh. Originally destined for Ali (son of the prophet Mohammed), the building finally went to the sultan, died around 1317 and converted to Sunnism in the meantime. Destroyed in 1384 by the armies of Tamerlan, Soltaniyeh only preserved his mausoleum with his exceptional dome of 48 m high. No doubt, the ruins here have a soul, almost echoing Eskander's epic (Alexander the Great) and Gengis Khan… The dome of the mausoleum, one of the world's largest after those of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, is covered with bricks. turquoise enameled. Like the sufi monuments, the building base is similar to the mausoleum of the Sufi Sultan Sandjer in Merv. Decorated with the origin of earthquakes, the interiors were unfortunately coated with plaster by the radicals of a non-figurative Islam. However, some coufic inscriptions - the oldest form of Arabic writing - remain. By contrast, the eight monumental minarets and four iwan (portals) disappeared. At the top level, in the red triple arcade gallery, which belts the dome, admire the wall of red clay clay. From here, the view of the surrounding countryside is impressive.