Western Iran’s most dazzling Safavid monument, and a World Heritage Site, the Sheikh Safi-od-Din Mausoleum is relatively compact. The patriarch is buried with lesser notables in an iconic 1334 Allah-Allah tower, so named because the apparently geometrical motif in blue-glazed brick is actually the endlessly repeated name of God. Much of the area around the complex is being excavated and an attractive walled garden makes a peaceful reading refuge.
To see the beautiful wooden sarcophagi, enter a small turquoise-tiled courtyard, then the Ghandil Khaneh (lantern house), where the intensity of the gold and indigo decoration is quite striking. The delicate 1612 Chini Khaneh (China Room), off to the left, is honeycombed with vaulted gilt niches originally designed to display the royal porcelain collection, most of which Russia took home with it after the 1828 invasion – it now resides in St Petersburg's Hermitage.
