Dome of Soltanieh, Piero Sanpaolesi, Reza Kasaei

Writer: Faramarz Parsi, Fatemeh Gholami
Project: Dome of Soltanieh
Restoration: Faculty of Architecture of the Melli (“National”) University of Iran, by Professor Piero Sanpaolesi, the director of the Institute of Antiquities Restoration and a UNESCO expert, with the cooperation of Dr. Reza Kasayi, Professor of Restoration, Faculty of Architecture of the Melli (“National”) University of Iran.
Year of Construction: between 1302 and 1312 AD (Ilkhani Period)
Photogrpher: Shahriar Khanizad

Dome of Soltanieh is one of the most magnificent and important historical monuments of Iran, which was built between 1302 and 1312 AD by Sultan Mohammad Khodabandeh Öljaitü in Soltanieh. Researchers consider the Dome of Soltanieh to be the third largest dome in the world, and Piero Sanpaolesi believes that the dome of Santa Maria Del Fiore was inspired by the Dome of Soltanieh despite their great distance apart. This building has an octagonal plan and its brick dome is 48.5 meters high, the diameter of its opening is 25.60 meters, the width of the piers is 6.87 meters – except for the northwest and northeast piers which are 12.40 meters wide – and their lengths are 17 meters from the outside and 8.60 meters from the inside. In addition to the staircase, these piers have eight high-rise porches and nearly 50 rooms and chambers. In addition to the uniqueness of its two-shell dome, which indicates a kind of evolution in dome architecture from the pre-Islamic period to the Seljuk period, which had two-shell domes in its architecture. Dome of Soltanieh is also important in terms of decorations, because in different periods peerless decorations, including plaster, brick, tile, painting, wood and stone decorations, etc. can be seen in its collection. The Global Heritage site of Gonbad-e Soltanieh, the greatest brick dome in the whole world, has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 24, 2014. Since the end of the forties, the restoration design and implementation of the repairs of this building was carried out by the National Organization for the Protection of Antiquities of Iran and the consultation of the Faculty of Architecture of the Melli (“National”) University, the Center of Archaeology, and before that, repairs were carried out by the General Directorate of Archaeology. The restoration project of the mosque and tomb of Sultan Mohammad Khodabandeh Öljaitü located in Soltanieh, Zanjan, which was assigned to the Faculty of Architecture of the Melli (“National”) University of Iran according to a contract, was carried out by Professor Piero Sanpaolesi, the director of the Institute of Antiquities Restoration and a UNESCO expert, with the cooperation of Dr. Reza Kasayi, the restoration professor of the Faculty of Architecture of the Melli (“National”) University of Iran. According to numerous studies and published reports on the design and implementation of the restoration of the Dome of Soltanieh by Professor Piero Sanpaolesi, the restoration can be considered one of the first projects of its kind in Iran. The project design was based on scientific and technical manuals based on international charters available at that time, such as the Athens Charter (1931) and the Venice Charter (1964) have been compiled, although some clauses of these charters have been ignored. After the restorations carried out by Piero Sanpaolesi in Soltanieh, the restorations during recent decades mostly include the restoration of the decorations of the porches and the inside of the dome, the reconstruction of the tower and the city rampart in the area, and also a protective approach has been followed in this building, such as environmental and structural monitoring with various witnesses, as well as humidity monitoring to protect the linings and decorations of the building which is on the agenda.