IRAN/ Tehran / Location: 35°40′47″N 51°25′13″E
Shams-ol-Emareh is one of Tehran’s historical buildings and a remnant of the Qajar Dynasty. It is one of the most prominent buildings on the east side of Golestan Palace. It was built around 1830. It is notable for its height, decorations, and design.
Shams-ol-Emareh is 35 meters tall with five floors. It was the tallest building in Tehran when it was built, and the first building using metal in its structure. All the pillars on the upper floors are of cast iron. Shams-ol-Emareh was the symbol of Tehran before Sar Dar Baghe Melli was built.
Before his visit to Europe, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, the fourth king of the Qajar Dynasty, was thinking of building a mansion in his capital to compete with Isfahan’s Ālī Qāpū. A tall building that he could stand on its roof and see the entire Tehran. By his order, the Shams-ol-Emareh building was started in 1865 and was finished in two years. Naser al-Din Shah took his guests to the roof of this building to see the capital. Building’s designer was Moayer al Mamalek and the architecture was Ali Mohammed Kashi. The style of this building is a combination of traditional Iranian and Western architecture.
Qajar ministers used to take their cabinet meetings in this building. Cabinet members would enter or leave from a particular door so it got the name ministers’ door. The Prime Minister’s carriage car, which was ministers only car, with its seven guards, always stopped in front of this door. This is the only door that its Qajar style façade remains.
The building has two towers in the same shape. Tiling and windows are Iranian style partly benefited from western architecture.
The first floor contains the king’s porch and hall covered with excellent and minimalist mirroring, with rooms on the sides which together resemble earrings on a human ‘s face. All parts have interesting decorations. These little rooms, with reticular decorations, drawings, and mirroring, also can be seen on other floors.
The floor of the king’s porch and façade is decorated with seven color tiling in Qajar style. The tiling shows drawings from Europe’s nature and western architecture, but the stole is Iranian. Pillars’ marble bases are decorated with highlighted motifs of plants and animals faces. It seems these motifs belong to different epochs.
A trip to Tehran is impossible to imagine without visiting the oldest historical monument of the city, breathtaking and glorious Golestan Palace. You can’t even describe the palace as a museum – it is a striking evidence of the great dynasty majesty. Golestan Palace was nominated for and then granted the title of UNESCO World Heritage site in 2013.
The story of Golestan Palace starts with the construction of Tehran Arg in the 16th century during the Safavid Era. Thatched mud walls of this citadel were embracing several royal buildings, and Golestan Palace was one of them. The Arg stood through Safavid and Zand dynasties until 1794. Then the first Shah of Qajar Dynasty, Mohammad Khan, chose Tehran as the capital of the Persian Empire. Golestan Palace became the official residency of the Shah, who rebuilt it and supplemented it with new buildings. During the Pahlavi era, Golestan Palace acted as a place for official events and receptions. Reza Shah, who strongly believed in Iran modernization and growth, destroyed some of its buildings in between 1925 and 1945. The old-looking palace did not match the new appearance of the developing city. However, nowadays we are lucky to witness the remained construction, consisting of 17 buildings, museums, and halls.
The palace covers an area of 53000 m2 and displays different periods of the history of Iran. Even though the major part of the palace belongs to the Qajar era, every single corner of the complex looks unique and has its own history to tell. Marble Throne, Brilliant Hall, Ivory Hall, Mirror Hall, Diamond Hall are some of the main points of the palace. While your look is moving from dazzling mirror mosaics to painted domes, you will not notice how time passes. That’s why we recommend to come here right after breakfast and start your day with an unforgettable experience. Except for interior of Golestan Palace, you can also find interest in Museum of Gifts with some rare artifacts, an exhibition of European paintings in the Pond House and Iranian paintings in the Picture House, and photography archive showing the first experience of using photo cameras inside the walls of Golestan Palace.