Solţānīyeh

Soltaniyeh lies on a high, grassy plain between Zanjan and Qazvin, where the Ilkhanid court once pitched its tents. Its great turquoise dome, one of the largest brick domes ever raised, covers the mausoleum of the Ilkhan Öljeitü. The octagonal building is crowned by a double-shelled dome and decorated inside with glazed tile, carved stucco and painted inscriptions, a landmark that stands alone over the pastures.

The Ilkhan Arghun began a settlement here in the late thirteenth century, and his son Öljeitü, who took the throne in 1304, enlarged it and gave it the name Soltaniyeh, 'the imperial'. The mausoleum was raised in the following years. In 1318 Pope John XXII made Soltaniyeh the seat of an archbishopric for Latin missionaries in Persia, and its first archbishops were Dominican friars. By about 1340 the walls still enclosed palaces, mosques and gardens, but the court had already left. Timur's armies took the region in the 1380s, and in 1404 the Castilian ambassador Clavijo found a busy trading town where merchants dealt in silk, spices and jewels. Later the plain served the Qajar army as a summer camp, while the mausoleum remained the one building that recalled the days of the Mongol capital.