Though relatively compact, the Safi-od-Din Mausoleum Complex is western Iran’s most dazzling Safavid monument and a World Heritage Site. The patriarch is buried with lesser notables in an iconic 1334 Allah-Allah tower , so named because the apparently geometrical motif in blue-glazed brick is actually the endlessly repeated name of God. To see the beautiful wooden sarcophagi enter through a splendid little courtyard of turquoise tiling, then the Ghandil Khaneh (lantern house) where the intensity of gold and indigo decoration is very striking. To the left, the glorious 1612 Chini Khaneh (china room) is honeycombed with ‘stalactite’-vaulted gilt niches originally designed to display the royal porcelain collection. Most of that was carted off to the Hermitage (St Petersburg) when Russia invaded in 1828, saving the mausoleum’s staff a lot of dusting.
Much of the area around the complex is being excavated and an attractive walled garden (free entrance, access from courtyard) makes a peaceful reading refuge.
