The
tomb of Hafez and its associated memorial hall, the Hāfezieh, are two memorial structures erected in the northern edge of
shiraz,
Iran, in memory of the celebrated Persian poet Hafez.
The open pavilion structures are situated in the Musalla Gardens on the north bank of a seasonal river and house the marble
tomb of Hafez.
The present buildings, built in 1935 and designed by the French architect and archaeologist André Godard, are at the site of previous structures, the most well-known of which was built in 1773.
The
tomb, its gardens, and the surrounding memorials to other great figures are a focus of tourism in
shiraz.
Hafez was born in
shiraz in 1315 and died there in 1390. A beloved figure of the Iranian people, who learn his verses by heart, Hafez was prominent in his home town and held a position as the court poet.
In his memory, a small, dome-like structure was erected in
shiraz near his grave
...see more at Golgast-e Mosalla in 1452 at the order of Babur Ibn-Baysunkur, a Timurid governor.
The Golgast-e Mosalla were gardens (now known as Musalla Gardens) that featured in Hafiz's poetry. With a surface of over 19,000 square metres, the gardens were also home to one of shiraz's cemeteries, and Babur had a pool built here at the same time as the memorial.
Believing they were ordered by omens in Hafez's poetry, Abbas I of Persia and Nader Shah both carried out separate restoration projects in the following 300 years.
A much more substantial memorial was constructed in the gardens in 1773 during the reign of Karim Khan Zand. Situated on the north bank of the seasonal Rudkhaneye Khoshk river in the Musalla Gardens, the Hāfezieh consisted of four central columns, with two rooms built at the east and west end and with the north and south sides remaining open.
The building split the gardens into two regions, with the orange grove in the front and the cemetery in the back. The actual tomb was outside of the structure, in the middle of the cemetery, with a marble slab placed over the grave.
The marble was engraved by a calligrapher with excerpts from Hafez's poetry.
The tomb was restored in 1857 by a governor of Fars, and a wooden enclosure was built around the tomb in 1878, by another governor of Fars.
Following this, the site became a subject of controversy, when, in 1899, Ardeshir, a Parsi from India began to build a shrine around Hafez's grave and,....
Activities to restore and expand the memorial to Hafez began in 1931, when the orange grove was repaired and the Hāfezieh was altered by a governor of Fars and Isfahan, Faraj-Allāh Bahrāmi Dabir-e Aʿẓam.
Additional improvements were delayed until the Ministry of Education organised for a new building to be built, in 1935. André Godard, a French archaeologist and architect, was the technical director of the Department of Antiquities at the time, and was commissioned to design the new buildings.
Alterations to Hafez's tomb involved elevating it one metre above ground level and encircling it with five steps. Eight columns, each ten metres tall, support a copper dome in the shape of a dervish's hat.
The underside of the dome is an arabesque and colourful mosaic.
The original, four-columned memorial hall built in 1773 by Karim Khan Zand was extensively expanded. Sixteen pillars were added to the four original, creating a long verandah, and on several façades are engraved ghazals and other excerpts from Hafez's poetry.
Reference : wikipedia.org
