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Thursday 2009-05-21 - Mashhad, Iran
Three tombs
Most of the day in Mashhad today is spent visiting a number of important sites — there are of course numerous ones in this holy city in Iran, so it must be a selection.
First, we go to the tomb of Nader Shah, a Turk of the Safavids who liberated Persia from the Afghan occupation in the 18th century and is thus revered here, in the spiritist tradition of reverence for great heroes. He managed to restore Iran to its former extended area. He proved to be an excellent strategist, but not such a good ruler; near the end of his life he became totally paranoid. The building is modern and of an interesting design with interlocking and rotated squares. In the half-open hall where the actual tomb stands in a large slightly sunken rotated square, this must have caused some problems for visitors (I imagine some falls and sprained ankles) because the corner nearest the tomb has been filled-in with a wooden deck so people can walk along the stone tomb without having to step down and up again.
Next on our list is the site of the tomb of Khajeh Rabee, a relative of Imam Reza. It´s a beautiful and peaceful site with a large garden around it. The pavement consists of memorial stones for martyrs of the Iran-Irak war, and endless expanse of them which brings home the terrible toll the 10-year war meant for this country.
Ferdowsi was a great poet and writer from the 11th century, the Seljuk period. He wrote ¨The Book of Kings¨ and with it made an important contribution to the continued existence of Farsi, using the language carefully and avoiding Arabic words. His tomb is here in Mashhad and quite different in atmosphere to that of Khajeh Rabee. The building, situated in a beautiful garden in Tus (his birthplace), is clearly inspired by Cyrus´ tomb in Pasargadae; behind it is a part of the old mud-brick city wall of Tus, partly protected by a roof: it´s a hangout place for local youth. Inside the building, Ferdowsi´s stone grave is on the ground floor, but on the top floor is a gallery from which you can look down on it — and surprisingly on this gallery there is an art exhibition, with some really good and quite witty drawings. A little farther on we make a short stop near a beautiful brick building that houses a Koran school.
