Sheikh Safi-Eddin Ardebili Complex

May 2022 by Vida Amani

This ancient collection, entitled the tomb of Sheikh Safi al-Eddin Ardebili, has been registered on the 16th of January, 1932, with number 64, the booklet of national monuments of Iran.

This complex is located in Iran and in the city of Ardabil, A significant number of Safavid dynasties and kings, including Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabili himself, have been buried in this area.

Sheikh Safi-Eddin Ardebili Complex

The tomb of Sheikh Safi al-Din, known as the Dome of God, is located on the south side of the Qandil Khaneh building or Daral-Hifaz Hall and north of the courtyard of the tombs, which was built after the death of the Sheikh by order of his successor and son Sadr al-Din Musa. Inside the tomb of Sheikh Safi, there are three tombs of different sizes, the largest of which belongs to Sheikh himself.

Enamel inscription in the center of the north face of the tomb contains the name of its founder, Musa al-Safavi.

There are different views on the date of construction, location and builder of Sheikh Safi's tomb; According to Ebne Bazzaz Ardabili, some scholars consider the date of its construction to be the period of Al-Jalayer and some of them consider it to belong to the ninth century AH and consider it as one of the wooden works of art of the Timurid period. Unfortunately, there is no inscription that indicates the exact date of construction and the name of the builder of the tomb's tomb, and the enamel inscription in the center of the north face of the tomb only contains the name of its founder, Musa al-Safavi.

Some researchers believe that the main body of this box is made of sycamore, pear, melch, ebony and betel wood, and boxwood and pear have been used for woodcarving and mosaics work.

The location of the fund has not changed since its installation on the Sheikh's mausoleum and has been stable in its current state. The tomb of Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabili consists of two large and small rectangular cubes. The upper rectangular cube is smaller than the lower part and is located on the large rectangular cube as the body of the tomb. The lower rectangular cube is the base of the tombstone.

The tomb of Sheikh Safi al-Din

The technique of making the tomb of the sheikh is the technique of frame and page method and its connections have been done in the manner of tongue-and-groove joint.

The body of the Sheikh's tomb contains three margins and the text of trelliswork. The first margin (outer margin) in the body of the box, surrounds it in tetrahedron, with the difference that only on the upper side, the north surface has an inscription in the line of Riga or suls. In the second edge of the body (middle margin), geometric and in the third margin (inner margin), the technique of Jovak and inlay is used. Woodcarving perimeter and vertical border margin on small sides of the base of the tombstone using the Woodcarving technique has been implemented.

In the outer margin of the body of the box, floral motifs including stems, leaves and leaflets, buds and three flowers are filled with trefoil and an inscription in Praise of Sheikh Safi using flat woodcarving technique and background plan with various floral motifs in concave style Come. In the middle margin, a four-legged geometric with a solid fretwork technique and in the inner margin, the role of a twisted drum and Inlay is performed one by one with the technique of Jovak and inlaid work. At the peripheral and vertical margins of the box base also, floral motifs have been used with the woodcarving technique in the method of concave and ten-sloped "convex" pavement. In the body text of the geometric and "ten acute" and in the basic text of the geometric "and eight quadrupeds inside the knot, floral motifs and inlays can be seen that they are executed with solid fretwork technique, woodcarving and inlay, respectively.