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 Illustrations From a 19th C. travel book with text on the reverse side: The tomb of a Mussulman saint, Imam Raza, situated in Mashhad, has given the city such a sacred character throughout Persia, that it is the highest ambition of every Mussulman in the Shah's empire to be buried within its walls. He visits it while alive, at any rate, and if by chance he die. upon this pilgrimage, he is so much the surer of Paradise. The number of pilgrims at. one time used to amount to thirty or forty thousand yearly, but of late, since the famine, has fallen off to ten or twelve thousand. Besides the many who die on their pilgrimage, and hence are buried in Mashdad, it is quite common for pilgrims to bring with them the remains of their friends, to inter them in the holy city. The first thing that strikes the eye is a noble oblong mass of buildings enclosing a court of about four hundred and eighty feet in length, and two hundred and twenty-five in width. These buildings are two stories in height, the apartments opening in front into a handsome arcaded gallery. In the centre of each side and each end is a magnificent and very lofty gateway (in the engraving), and the whole, is completely encrusted with a mosaic work of tiles, painted and glazed, and arranged in figures of the most tasteful patterns and colors. This is called the Sahn. The area of this court is flagged with grave-stones, forming a continuous, though not a very smooth pavement, tinder which lie interred the remains of Persian nobles, brought hither from all parts of the country, to be buried as near as possible to the bones of their favorite saint. The gateways at the two ends of the court contain wickets of elegant wrought steel, for purposes of entrance and exit. The gate on the southwest gives admittance into the mausoleum, while that on the opposite side is built only for uniformity ; it is in architecture and size the exact copy of its prototype, but differs in ornament, the former being adorned with gild the latter with colored tiles. Of the mausoleum itself little is seen externally except the dome, which is covered with gilded tiles relieved. with broad bands of bright blue, which bear Arabic inscriptions in letters of gold. Its most striking ornaments, however, are two beautiful minarets, one of which springs from a part of the mausoleum itself, the other, from the gateway opposite. Each of these minarets has a handsome gallery of carved wood, richly gilded, as is also the larger part of the shaft itself. Beneath the dome lie the remains of the saint; and very near is another tomb, which the western traveler will regard with much deeper interest, none other than that of his boyhood's friend, the great Kalif, the "good Harotin-al-Raschid. All that gold and silver, and wrought steel of finest quality, and jewels and Persian carpets, and ever-burning wax candles, can add of majesty and solemnity to this shrine, has been lavished upon it. More Illustrations More Religion More Places Sent by Darius Kadivar Got any interesting old photos of ordinary people, places, political leaders, activists... anything? Send to times@iranian.com
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