MASHHAD CITY

Mashhad is the second most populous city in Iran and capital of Razavi Kborásan Province. It is located in the northeast of the country, close to the Borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. It was a major oasis along the ancient Silk Road connecting with Merv in the Ease. The city is named after and revered for housing the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia Imam. Every year, millions of pilgrims visit the Imam Reza shrine and pay their tributes to Imam Reza. The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization named Mashhad in "cultural capital of the Muslim world" in Asia on 24 January 2017.

Imam Reza Holy Shrine

The Imam Reza shrine in Maslahad is a complex which contains the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Twelver Shiites, museums, mosques, tombs, libraries etc. It is the largest mosque in the world by dimension and the second largest by capacity. Also contained within the complex are Goharshad Mosque, a museum, a library, four seminaries, a cemetery, the Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, a dining hall for pilgrims, vast prayer halls, and other buildings. The complex is one of the tourism centers in Iran. The shrine itself covers an area of 267,079 m2 while the seven courtyards which surround it cover an area of 331,578 m2 - totaling 598,657 m2. Every year the ceremony of Dust Clearing is celebrated in the Imam Reza shrine.

Naderi Tomb & Museum

Nader Shah Afshar is among the few post-Islamic Iranian kings who made an attempt for Iran’s independence and solidarity and was successful in doing that. The Tomb of Nader Shah is a monument in Naderi Garden Museum in Mashhad which was designed and built by Houshang Seyhoun in order to commemorate Nader Shah. The 6.5-meter-high bronze sculpture of Nader Shah mounted on a horse alongside 3 foot soldiers standing next to the horse was built in Rome, Italy, and then it was transferred to Mashhad and placed on its pedestal. The sculpture was designed by Abol-Hassan Seddiqqi, and its bronzing was done in Berotti Factory in Italy. The nearest attraction to the tomb is Imam Reza holy shrine.

Tomb of Ferdowsi

The tomb of Abol-Oasem Ferdowsi Tousi is located in the middle of a landscaped garden 20 km north of Mushhad City. This great monument was designed and refurbished by Houshang Seyhoun based on Hossein Lorzadeh’s preliminary design with some modifications in its dimensions, size, and decorations. The current building of the mausoleum was opened in 1934 simultaneously with Fardowsi Millenary Celebration. May 14th is celebrated as Ferdowsi Day in Iran. Every year on this day, Ferdows and Shahnamh commemoration is celebrated at universities and research institutes.

The Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam

The tomb of Omar Khayyam located in Neishabour where Omar Khayyam was born and where his mausoleum today remains a masterpiece of Iranian architecture visited by many people every year. It was completed in 1963. The city of Neishabour is, along with Mashhad and Tous, part of the region in northeastern Iran that churned out some of the foremost Muslim thinkers and academics of the Middle Ages. Neishabour's favorite son, and its primary claim to fame, was Omar Khayyam, possibly the greatest mathematician to live between Euclid and Copernicus. Interestingly, he is even better known for his poetry, as captured in the book The Rubaiyet of Omar Khayyam, possibly the second most popular work of Muslim literature after the 1001 Nights. The strange, geometry-inspired modern sculpture which now marks the site of his tomb is now the most popular site in the city where he is trumpeted as one of the great heroes of science. The nearest tourist attractions to the Mausoleum are tomb of Attar Neishabouri and Kamal al-Molk.

Astan-e Qods Razavi Museums

The museums of the Astan-e Quds Razavi are among the richest museums of Islamic Republic of Iran, and are included among the most important art and cultural centers of the Islamic world. This complex contains eleven different museums. The variety of the museums of this complex has always brought great numbers of visitors. The four story museum building contains a great collection of valuable and rare works of art. The lower level contains the treasury of stamps and bank notes, the ground floor contains the treasury of oysters and clams and the treasury of visual arts and the second floor contains the treasury of clocks and astronomy, the treasury of weapons and the treasury of utensils. In addition to these the building of the treasury of Qurans is of great importance due to its valuable and rare Qurans written by holy figures of Shi'ism.

(Harounieh Monument (Dome

The monument is located 25 km northwest of Mashhad in an ancient city known as Tous. It's named after “Haroun Al Rashid” (the fifth Arab Abbasid Caliph). The building contains the mausoleum of Ghazali, who was an influential Islamic scholar lived in the 11th century. The cube-shaped structure with a dome ceiling is located in the heart of the desert and is the only remaining structure of the ancient city Tous. The style of the architecture is called Azeri. Haromieh is an unknown and mysterious monuments and the only monument remaining from the ancient Tous City. This monument is 20 km from the North West of Mashhad on the western borders of Mashhad-Tous Road and at the beginning of Pardis Boulevard, the main Boulevard and the entrance to Tous City. Harounieh is a brick and square monument.

Mausoleum of Atar

Abū Hamīd bin Abū Bakr Ibrahīm better known by his pen-names Farīd ud-Dīn and Attar-Neishabour, was the great poet and Gnostic of Iran. The tomb of this famous poet is located 6 km, west of Neishabour, near Imamzadeh Mahrouq and the tomb of Omar Khayyam. This structure is octagonal in shape with a tile worked onion shaped dome. It has 4 entrances; the northern one is the main entrance. This historical structure has been tastefully adorned with colored (green, yellow and blue) tiles and carvings. The interior site is covered by plaster and has four seats. The Mausoleum is located in a garden covering an area of about 119 m2. The grave of the well-known painter kamal al-Molk is also situated in a part of this garden.

Khorasan Razavi