Golestan Palace
Golestan Palace is one of the historical places of Tehran, located on Panzdeh-e Khordad St. This place is a must-see place for Iranian and foreign tourists because of its architecture and historical monuments. Golestan Palace includes many sites such as the Marble Throne (Takht-e Marmar), Salam Hall (Talar-e Salam), Mirror Hall (Talar-e Aineh), Dining Hall, Karim Khani Nook (Khalvat-e Karim Khani), Brilliant Hall (Talar-e Brelian), The Windcatcher Building (Emarat-e Badgir), Containers Hall (Talar-e Zoruf), Edifice of the Sun (Shams ol Emareh), Diamond Hall (Talar-e Almas), Museum of Gifts, Ivory Hall (Talar-e Adj) and Abyaz Palace. The Marble Throne and Karim Khani Nook are the oldest buildings of this palace.
History
The history of Golestan Palace goes back to Abbas the Great period. However, this palace’s most important historical period is related to the Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar era. Naser al-Din Shah Qajar was also crowned in this palace and was the first king of Iran who traveled to Europe. This is the reason Golestan Palace has been influenced by European architecture. During the Qajar era, this complex was used as a royal palace and a place to train artists and architects. During the rulers such as Muzaffar ad-Din Shah, Muhammad Ali Shah, and Ahmad Shah Qajar this didn’t have so many changes.
Golestan palace
Golestan Palace is a combination of Iranian and European architecture, which is a type of European neoclassical architecture. Golestan Palace has the best examples of tile work, which includes designs of love, hunting, battles, landscapes, historical monuments, kings, courtiers, etc. The combination of European painting and Iranian illustration has given an impressive view of this complex. The interior of Golestan Palace also attracts people because of its beautiful mirror works. Especially the Mirror Hall, which took more than seven years to finish.
The Marble Throne (Takht-e Marmar)
This site is the oldest site of the Golestan Palace, which is decorated with pargeting, stonework, mirrors, and goldwork. Inside the porch is a throne made of Yazd lemon marble, on the shoulders of three demons and six angels, which is similar to the throne of Prophet Solomon. On the Marble Throne, two lions, a dragon, and a poem by Malik al-Shu’ara about Fath Ali Shah are carved.
Takyeh Dowlat
Takyeh Dowlat is a place to perform mourning ceremonies during Ashura and was built by the order of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar in the southeast of Golestan Palace. The exterior of Takyeh Dowlat was in the form of an octagonal prism, which was a cylinder inside. This site has three entrances for men, women, and the king.
Edifice of the Sun (Shams ol-Emareh)
Shams ol-Emareh can be said to be the best place in the Golestan complex. Naser al-Din Shah fell in love with their skyscrapers during his travel to Europe and therefore he ordered the construction of this edifice so that he could watch the view of Tehran. This building with a height of 35 meters was a symbol of the capital at its time. Metal has been used in the construction of Shams ol-Emareh, which caused a great transformation in Iran’s building construction. This building uses decorations such as plasterwork, painting, mirrorwork, and goldwork.
Salam Hall (Talar-e Salam)
The Hall of Salam was constructed in 1293 AH, but the decoration continued until 1296 AH. The Salam Hall or the Throne Hall is located on the northwest side of Golestan Palace. After seeing the museums of Western countries, Naser al-Din Shah decided to build a museum similar to them in this royal citadel. It became known as the Salam Hall because the Salam ceremony was held in this hall, and later it was known as the Throne Hall.
Museum of Gifts
The Museum of Gifts is a special part of Salam Hall’s pond, which contains exquisite objects left by the Qajar kings. Some of them were kept in the room of the Naser al-Din Shah Museum in the past, which had been handed down to the Qajar rulers from the past periods. Some of these works were from other kings or artists of that period or were purchased by the kings themselves.
The Museum Hall
Another part of the Talar-e Salam is the Museum Hall, which contains Iranian paintings of the Qajar period. This museum consists of two parts: in the southern part, the paintings of the Qajar era are displayed, and the works of artists such as Mirza Baba Naqqashbashi, Ismail Jalayer, etc. are prominent among them. The northern section has been selected to display the works of Qajar period painters such as Mahmoud Saba, and Kamal-ol-Molk.
Ivory Hall (Talar-e Adj)
The Ivory Hall is another magnificent site in Golestan Palace, and although the exact date of its construction is not known; According to the evidence, it was built before Salam Hall and Mirror Hall.
The peak of the beauty of this hall can be seen in the watercolor painting by Malik al-Shu’ara, which he painted in 1286 AH of the exterior of the hall. According to this drawing, Ivory Hall had three large sashes, a porch with 6 columns, and a staircase.
Currently, two large elephant tusks are in this hall, which can show the reason for the name of the hall. Adj in Persian means elephant tusk; However, some believe that in the past this place was used for reception and eating, and its correct name is “Aç” which means hungry in Turkish.
Mirror Hall
This hall is next to Salam Hall, which is famous due to the painting by Kamal-ol-Molk of Mirror Hall and Naser al-Din Shah. Which took five years to complete.
Containers Hall (Tala-e Zoruf)
The Containers Hall was built in 1344 SH on the remains of a structure from the Qajar era. It is used to store and display some of the gifts of European kings to the Qajar kings. Dishes related to the wars of Napoleon Bonaparte, the jewels donated by Queen Victoria, gifts from Alexander III, presents by the emperor of Russia Nicholas I, etc. are some of the gifts that exist in this hall.
Karim Khani Nook (Khalvat-e Karim Khani)
Karim Khani Nook is located in the northwest corner of Golestan Palace. The importance of this building is due to what happened during the time of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar. He took Karim Khan’s body out of its grave in Shiraz and moved it to this place. Because at that time, it was the daily passage of the king so he could pass on Karim Khan’s burial place. Two valuable works in Karim Khani Nook make this place so important. Naser al-Din Shah’s tomb was moved from the shrine of Hazrat Abd al-Azim to Golestan Palace at the beginning of the Islamic Revolution of Iran and was finally placed in Karim Khani Nook. On his gravestone, Naser al-Din Shah is engraved with a sword in his hand. In addition, the marble throne of Fath Ali Shah is also here; Although it was previously in another part of the palace, it was transferred to this place during Pahlavi II’s rule.
Abyaz Palace
After the construction of this palace, Naser al-Din Shah ordered that it be painted white in imitation of European architecture and use white marble for the stairs. For this reason, the new building of Golestan became known as the Abyaz Palace. The reason for building this palace was that all the king’s palaces were at their beauty and it did not need any equipment. When Sultan Abdul Hamid, the Ottoman king, sent Naser al-Din Shah some expensive furniture such as Louis XVI sofas, two mirrors, velvet curtains, bronze statues, and some hand-woven Turkish rugs; For this reason, Naser al-Din Shah designed a new palace in the southwest of Golestan Palace to place these gifts.
The Windcatcher Building (Emarat-e Badgir)
This mansion is in the south of Golestan Palace, which was built during the time of Fath Ali Shah. During the reign of Naser al-Din Shah, many changes were made in it that can be seen today. Besides the beautiful columns and corridors of this mansion attract many eyes. Other extraordinary decorations are also used in the Windcatcher Building, including paintings, mirrorwork, plasterwork, and goldwork. The most attractive part of the building is the royal hall with 9 sash windows, marble plinths, mirrorwork, two spiral columns, seven-color tiles, and a painted ceiling, which dazzle the eyes of every viewer.
Visiting hours
Visiting hours of Golestan Palace are from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
