Soltaniyeh Dome is the third largest dome in the world after Santa Maria Del Fiore of Florence and Ayasofya of Istanbul. The ingenious of Iranian architects is evident in the technical and artistic perfection of the dome. It is a 48-meter mausoleum, with a dome diameter equal to 25.6 meters built on a 50-60 cm foundation. It has the shape of an octagon with eight terraces that stand for the eight doors of heaven. The building has three floors, the ground floor where the entrances are located next to the Torbat Khane, the first floor that is built almost ten meters from the ground and reached by three staircases, and the second floor that has 8 terraces and gives a 360-degree view of the town and the vast plains of Zanjan. There is also a basement or cellar that was supposed to be where the Uljeitu’s body would be placed and a third floor that is the way of accessing the base of the double cased dome.
The decorations of the building are separated by the materials used in their creation into two periods. When the construction of the mausoleum is over, the most skilled designers are called to decorate the building with a combination of brick and tile. The whole place was covered with verses from the Quran and the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and Shiite Imams. This layer of decoration was later covered with plaster for unknown reasons and a new style of decoration was placed over it that was designed with paintings.
This magnificent mausoleum is the masterpiece of Islamic architecture and a prove of Iranian intelligence, it was registered by UNESCO as part of their World Heritage List in 2005.
