Mausoleum of Omar Khayyám

Mausoleum in Nishapur, Iran

Mausoleum of Omar Khayyám

آرامگاه عمر خیام

Mausoleum of Omar Khayyám, January 2011

General information
Status| Open to the public
Type| Mausoleum
Architectural style| Iranian architecture
Address| Complex of Khayyam garden and Mausoleum, Erfan St, Khayyam Blvd,
Town or city| Nishapur
Country|  Iran
Completed| 1963
Owner| Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism
Height| 22 meters
Design and construction
Architect(s)| Hooshang Seyhoun
Known for| Symbol of the city of Nishapur
Other information
Parking| Available
Public transit access| A bus station is situated in front of the complex

The Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam (Persian: آرامگاه عمر خیام) is a modern mausoleum of white marble erected over Omar Khayyam's headstone located on the south-east of the city of Nishapur, Iran. This mausoleum is a symbol of modern Persian architecture and is part of the national heritage of Iran. This monument was built during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty and was designed by Hooshang Seyhoun.

The reconstruction of the Mausoleum of Omar Khayyam in Nishapur was commissioned by Reza Shah. Omar's previous tomb was separated from his tomb, and a white marble monument (Current Mausoleum), designed by the Iranian architect Hooshang Seyhoun, was erected over it. This mausoleum became one of the main symbols of the city and one of the known works of the modern Persian architecture. The influence of the architectural design of this mausoleum is visible on the coat of arms of the University of Neyshabur, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) and other public, civil and private organizations of the city. The construction of the new mausoleum was completed in the year 1963.

## History

[edit]

The Tomb of Omar Khayyam in 1886 depicted by William Simpson. Prior to the construction of the monument, it can be seen next to the mosque which it adjoins.

Omar Khayyam died on 4 December 1131. The earliest account of Omar's final resting place is provided by his pupil Nizami Aruzi who visited his tomb in 1135-6. In Balkh, in 1112-13, Nizami heard Omar make a prophecy about his place of burial, that his grave "would be where flowers in the springtime would shed their petals over his dust". He describes visiting his grave in what was then the cemetery of Hayrah:

> [his prophecy] seemed to me impossible, though I knew that one such as he would not speak idle words. When I arrived at Nishapur in the year A.H. 530, it being then four years since that great man had veiled his countenance in the dust, and this nether world had been bereaved of him. Since he was my master, on the eve of a Friday, with a companion, I went to visit his grave in the Hayrah Cemetery, I turned left and saw a grave situated at the foot of a garden-wall, over which pear-trees and peach-trees thrust their heads, and on his grave had fallen so many flower-leaves that his dust was hidden beneath the flowers. This reminded me of the conversation I had heard from him in the city of Balkh, I wept, for in the four corners of the world I had seen no one like him.[1]: 661

The tomb itself survived various calamities; including several major earthquakes (Nishapur being on a seismic fault-line),[2]: 68 raids by some Turkic tribes, and the Mongol invasion.[3]: 16 In the succeeding centuries, Omar's grave had become situated in an open wing of a shrine of a certain Islamic saint called Imamzadeh Muhammad Mahruk (d. eighth century), the brother of Reza. According to Percy Sykes, who visited the poet's tomb twice, the saint's mortuary shrine contained a formal Persian garden with cobbled paths.[4] The shrine had a turquoise dome and was likely erected in the seventeenth century,[3]: 17 or possibly earlier by Shah Abbas.[4]: 283 Some pilgrims to Omar's grave, such as the Iranologist, A. V. Williams Jackson who visited it in 1911, described his tomb as a simple case made of brick and cement with no inscription.[3]: 16

Mausoleum of Omar Khayyám in 2020

### Reconstruction

[edit]

The reconstruction of the mausoleum was commissioned by the Iranian government (Reza Shah) in 1934 during Ferdowsi's millenary.[3]: 17 Omar's tomb was separated from the shrine, and a white marble monument, designed by the architect Hooshang Seyhoun, was erected over it. The construction was completed in 1963.Seyhoun combined Khayyam's talents as a poet, mathematician, and astronomer in his design.[5] Nizami Aruzi mentioned Khayyam's desire for a grave adorned with blossoms each spring. Seyhoun fulfilled this wish by creating a pathway from the garden to Khayyam's tomb, allowing flowers to fall on it annually. He also paid homage to Khayyam's geometric work with a star-shaped feature on the tomb, opening to the sky above Nishapur and symbolizing the celestial expanse.[5] To further honor Khayyam, Seyhoun decorated the structure with tiles inscribed with Khayyam poems in beautiful calligraphy, featuring Morteza Abdolrasul's abstract Shekaste Nastalik. This project aimed to modernize Iranian architecture while still embracing its heritage, marking a distinct Iranian modernism.[5]

## Gallery

[edit]

*   *   *   *   *   * Some verses of Khayyam have been written on his mausoleum with the taliq script.

*   *   * Previous tomb of Khayyam, situated in the Khayyam square of Nishapur

*   * A poem in Persian written in Nasaliq script. This poem is written for/about the tomb of Omar Khayyam in Nishapur.

*   * Jalil Shahnaz in Omar Khayyam Mausoleum, Neyshabur (1975).

* January 2011

## References

[edit]

1. ^ The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4. Cambridge University Press (1975): Richard Nelson Frye
2. ^ Mehdi Aminrazavi, The Wine of Wisdom: The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar Khayyam, Oneworld Publications (2007)
3. ^ a b c d The Tomb of Omar Khayyâm, George Sarton, Isis, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Jul., 1938), 15.
4. ^ a b Sykes, M. (1914). KHORASAN: THE EASTERN PROVINCE OF PERSIA. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 62(3196), 279-286.
5. ^ a b c Salari Sardari, Mohadeseh (2024-03-04). "Andre Godard and Maxime Siroux: Disentangling the Narrative of French Colonialism and Modern Architecture in Iran". Iranian Studies: 1–29. doi:10.1017/irn.2024.10. ISSN 0021-0862.

## External links

[edit]

* Arch Net
* Panoramic Images of Khayyam’s Tomb، Neyshabur Day

36°09′57″N 58°49′20″E﻿ / ﻿36.1659°N 58.8223°E﻿ / 36.1659; 58.8223

* v
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Mausoleums in Iran

* Mausoleum of Attar of Nishapur
* Avicenna Mausoleum
* Baba Tahir Mausoleum, Hamadan
* Baba Tahir Mausoleum, Khorramabad
* Besh Qardash
* Chehel Dokhtaran mausoleum
* Fakhrigah
* Grave of Pir Quzhd
* Gur-e-Dokhtar
* Imamzadeh Hamzeh, Kashmar
* Khaje Taj od-Din mausoleum
* Kharraqan towers
* Mausoleum of Reza Shah
* Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini
* Mausoleum of Mir Bozorg
* Mausoleum of Shah Abbas I
* Mausoleum of Omar Khayyám
* On ibn Ali's shrine
* Pir Bakran mausoleum
* Qadamgah Hazrat Ali
* Shah Cheragh
* Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami mausoleum complex
* Sheikh Safi al-Din Khānegāh and Shrine Ensemble
* Shrine of Abu Lu'lu'a
* Tomb of Sheikh Yusof Sarvestani
* Tomb of Abu al-Hassan Kharaqani
* Tomb of Abu Usman Al-Maghribi
* Tomb of Ahmad ibn Ishaq
* Tomb of Ali ibn Hamzah, Shiraz
* Tomb of Artaxerxes I of Persia
* Tomb of Baba Loghman
* Tomb of Bibi Dokhtaran
* Tomb of Boghrat
* Tomb of Cyrus
* Tomb of Daniel
* Tomb of Darius II
* Tomb of Esther and Mordechai
* Tomb of Ferdowsi
* Tomb of Hadi Sabzevari
* Tomb of Hassan Modarres
* Tomb of Haydar Amuli
* Tomb of Heydar Yaghma
* Tomb of Kamal-ol-molk
* Tomb of Khajeh Rabie
* Tomb of Mir Zobeyr
* Tomb of Nader Shah
* Tomb of Pir Palandouz
* Tomb of Rais al-Mojahedin
* Tomb of Shah Firooz
* Tomb of Shah Qalandar
* Tomb of Seyed Alaeddin Husayn
* Tomb of Shaykh Haydar
* Tomb of Sheikh Shahab ol-Din Ahari
* Tomb of Wais
* Tomb of Xerxes I
* Tomb of Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar

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Razavi Khorasan Province

Capital|

* Mashhad

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| Bajestan County|

* Bajestan
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Fariman County|

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Mashhad County|

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Nishapur County|

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* Taybad
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Torbat-e Heydarieh County|

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Torqabeh and Shandiz County|

* Torqabeh
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Zaveh County|

* Dowlatabad

Zeberkhan County|

* Darrud
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Landmarks|

* Abbasabad Complex
* Tomb of Abdolabad
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* Amin al-tojar Caravansarai
* Atashgah Manmade-Cave
* Atashgah Castle
* Firuzabad area
* Firuzabad Tower
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* Haj Soltan Religious School
* Haji Jalal Mosque
* Haruniyeh Dome
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* Imamzadeh Hamzeh, Kashmar
* Imamzadeh Seyed Morteza
* Jameh Mosque of Kashmar
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* Jameh Mosque of Nishapur
* Jameh Mosque of Sabzevar
* Karat Minaret
* Khosrogerd Minaret
* Kondor Ab anbars
* Kūh-e Tīr Māhī
* Mausoleum of Attar of Nishapur
* Mausoleum of Omar Khayyám
* Khalilabad Hot Spring
* Pamenar Mosque, Sabzevar
* Qanats of Ghasabeh
* Ribat of Kabudan
* Ribat of Sharaf
* Rig castle
* Shahi Dam
* Sheikh Ahmad-e Jami mausoleum complex
* Seyyed Bagher Ab anbar
* Shadiyakh
* Sir Cave
* Tandooreh National Park
* Tomb of Baba Loghman
* Tomb of Boghrat
* Tomb of Ferdowsi
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* Tomb of Hassan Modarres
* Tomb of Heydar Yaghma
* Tomb of Kamal-ol-molk
* Tomb of Khajeh Rabie
* Tomb of Nader Shah
* Qal'eh Dokhtar, Kuhsorkh

General|

* List of cities, towns and villages in Razavi Khorasan Province

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