The Tomb of Ferdowsi (Persian: آرامگاه فردوسی, romanized: Ârâmgâh-e Ferdowsi) is a tomb complex composed of a white marble base, and a decorative edifice erected in honour of the Persian poet Ferdowsi located in Tus, Razavi Khorasan province, Iran. It was built in the early 1930s, and mainly uses elements of Achaemenid architecture to demonstrate Iran's rich culture and history. The construction of the mausoleum as well as its aesthetic design is a reflection of the cultural, and geo-political status of Iran at the time.
Background Ferdowsi, the influential Persian poet and author of the Persian epic, Shahnameh died in 1020 AD in Tus, Iran (Persia), in the same city in which he was born. During his life time, Ferdowsi was not recognised for all his literary contributions. It was only after his death that his poems won him admiration. For hundreds of years, his resting place was nothing more than a minor dome-shrine erected by a Ghaznavid ruler of Khorasan, without any permanent edifice in place in the garden of his house where Ferdowsi's daughter had originally buried him. In the early 20th century, Iran began to realise his critical role in defining the identity of Iran. It was not until 1934 that the Iranian government, then under the control of Reza Shah, first Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty, recognized the cultural and literary value of Ferdowsi and erected a permanent tomb in his honour. A millennial celebration was also held for the poet, to which were invited scholars from several countries, including Soviet Tajikistan, India, Armenia, and Europe (Germany, France, England). Funds were collected, mainly donations from Parsi scholars, to enable the building of a statue for the poet at his tomb site. The Pahlavi dynasty used Ferdowsi to advance Iran's cultural prestige, but in doing so nearly cost Ferdowsi his tomb since, after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, frustrations with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi nearly led to the tomb's destruction by the revolutionaries.
The tomb was originally designed by the Iranian architect, Haj Hossein Lurzadeh who aside from Ferdowsi's tomb also created some 842 mosques, as well as the private palace of Ramsar, part of the decoration of the Marmar palace, the Imam Hossein Mosque in Tehran, the Motahari Mosque, and various parts of the Hazrat-i-Seyyed-o-Shouhada shrine in Karbala, Iraq. The present design of the structure is credited mainly to Karim Taherzadeh, who replaced the old dome-shaped design by Lurzadeh with a modern cubical design. Ferdowsi's tomb, which resembles the tomb of Cyrus the Great, is built in style of Achaemenid architecture. There is a clear link between this choice of architectural style and the politics of Iran at the time. Four years before Reza Shah came to power in 1922, a group of secular Iranian reformists had created the "Society for National Heritage" (SNH, or in Persian anjoman-e asar-e meli). Composed mostly of western-educated, pro-reform intellectuals such as Abdolhossein Teymourtash, Hassan Pirnia, Mostowfi ol-Mamalek, Mohammad Ali Foroughi, Firuz Mirza Firus Nosrat al-Dowleh, and Keikhosrow Shahrokh, the SNH was critical in obtaining the funds from the Iranian parliament. Keikhosrow Shahrokh, Iran's Zoroastrian representative to the Iranian parliament, was particularly active in reviving Achaemenid and Sasanian architecture in Iran in the 1930s.
Structural details The basic structure of the tomb is rectangular with a large garden surrounding the structure and interacting with the structure in the Persian style of gardening known as Char-bagh (or Chaharbagh translating to four gardens in Persian). In the center of the cross created by the legs of the garden surrounding it, is an edifice made of primarily white marble. The edifice can be divided into a "wide chamber" that lies at the base and a cubical erection on top, with four pillars surrounding it and scenes from the epic of Shahnameh and text ornating it. The body of the poet is actually interred in the center of the rectangular wide chamber underneath the overlying four pillars cube. There are twelve (12) steps leading from the lowest point of the wide chamber all the way to the level of the cube. The wide base has a total height of 16 m. The edifice has equal dimensions of 30 m on each side. The following are schematic diagrams of the aerial view of the tomb's wide base and edifice section and their topography: A unique feature of the design of Ferdowsi's tomb has been its resemblance to that of Cyrus the Great in Pasargadae. Cyrus's tomb also has a rectangular structure seating atop a rectangular, gradually elevating base. This resemblance is intentional as the designer of this edifice intended to revoke the original Achaemenid style of architecture. In fact every other facet of the edifice has a Zoroastrian symbol known as Faravahar. This is not coincidental. There are multiple applications of this in the Achaemenid architecture mainly in Persepolis in Fars province today. The "Society for National Heritage of Iran" (SNH) heavily relied on the use of Faravahar as this was the symbolic representation of ancient Iran since Achaemenid times. Many construction in the 1930s, including the then National Bank of Iran use Faravahar which is not unexpected considering that the same architect that created Ferdowsi's tomb also created the National Bank of Iran.
A closer look at the edifice points out that there are four columns each at the corner of the rectangular structure with two half-buried columns that protrude as deep friezes on each facet of the structure. Each frieze column has a box, followed by a two horn bull sign which is very much similar if not the exact imitation of the Persepolis column design. The columns are ornated with fluting 3/4 of the way down with the last portion spared. The overall effect is intended to create a grand gesture. The columns are as high as the edifice which is 30 meters high. (the edifice is also 30 m wide). Marble decorations are used to ornate the siding and the floor of the "wide base" structure as well the wall. Persian flower designs (concentric flower designs composed of a flower with seven (7) ovaloid pellets surrounding a central circle), and hexagonal marble designs are commonly used in the structure. Comparison of the Persepolis columns, and the columns used in Ferdowsi's mausoleum:
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