Timurid Chahartaq

Timurid Chahartaq

shirvan

Timurid Chahartaq

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Timurid Chahartaq in Shiravan belongs to Timurid dynasty. It is the resting place of Amir Timur. There is a description over the tomb of this military leader that indicates he died in 1405. It is natural that the building is made at the same date. To visit Timurid Chahartaq, or Timurid Tomb, one should go to Ziarat village in the Shiravan County in North Khorasan. The Chahartaq is located in the site of Imamzadeh Hamzeh Reza, a shrine in the village.

What can be seen from the outside of the building is the view of an octagonal structure. Even though the tablet of the Chahartaq dates it back to Timurid dynasty, the fact that it is octagonal and has basements provides a basis for the speculation that it was built during Ilkhanate era.

Another hypothesis is that the tomb belongs to Sheikh Timur. But it has been rejected by many scientists because according to the endowment contract of Chahartaq, written in 1636, the building has been endowed by a person named Amir Mohammad Sheikh Timuri. There are some words on the tombstone located in the Chahartaq that, despite being unreadable and faded, show two words of Eid Khajeh. According to historical books, this is the name of one of Amir Timur’s commanders in chief.

There is a gateway in each of eight sides of the building. The upper part of the building has been constructed by the use of vaults. There are also windows that are located on the top of the doors and have the same width as them, and iwans each decorated with unique brickworks.

The entirety of this tomb is made of bricks and cob bricks. It should not be left out that the inner part of the building has been covered with plaster. The upper parts of the gateways have bricks in the color of turquoise. Stucco and reliefs of the building have been decorated with arabesque motifs.

The first phase of restoration of Timur Chahartaq was conducted in 1977. After then the façade of the building changed to a great degree. The restorations continued in 2005 and 2007 when further destruction of the structure was prevented by its reinforcement. Archeological researches resulted in the discovery of the main entrance to the building and its basements, and also the surrounding fences. It is speculated that these fences were later added to stop the spread of the graveyard into the district of the building. Timur Chahartaq was registered as a national heritage of Iran in 2001. In the southwest of the Chahartaq, there is a shrine attributed to Hamzeh Reza. This shrine has a dome that is two meters high from outside and four meters from inside. The distance between the shrine and Chahartaq is about fifty meters.


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