Sheikh Safi al-Din Khānegāh and Shrine Ensemble
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How it came to be
Ardabil in north-western Iran was the birthplace of Sheikh Safi al-Din, leader of a Sufi order. After his death in 1334 his son Sadr al-Din Musa built his mausoleum. The order later gave rise to the Safavid dynasty, and the dynasty's founder, Shah Ismail I, is also buried in the shrine.
The ensemble was built up between the early 16th and late 18th centuries, fitting a library, a mosque, a school, mausolea, a cistern, a hospital, kitchens, a bakery and offices into a small space. The route to the Sheikh's tomb is divided into seven segments that stand for the seven stages of Sufi mysticism, separated by eight gates for the eight attitudes of Sufism. The tomb itself is a cylindrical tower about 17 m high, faced with blue tiles.
Beside it, the Chini-khana, the China House, held the porcelain collection of Shah Abbas I. The shrine was entered on Iran's national heritage list in 1932 and inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2010.
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