Graftombe van Saadi

Saadi was born in Shiraz in the early 13th century^1,7. After studying in Baghdad and travelling for more than twenty years, he returned to Shiraz around 1257, finished the Bustan that year and presented the Golestan in 1258^1,7. He kept a khanqah (Sufi lodge) where he fed the poor, and when he died, most probably in late 1291, he was buried in its iwan¹. The site, above a qanat, lies in a valley at the foot of the Pahandezh hill in the north-east of the city^1,4. The Timurid prince Ebrahim Soltan, who died in 1434-35, repaired the building, and in the Safavid period Tavernier saw an old structure resembling a mosque and madrasa¹.

In 1773-74 Karim Khan Zand built a two-storey building of brick and plaster over the grave, whose room was left open through both storeys¹. In the Qajar period an iron grille was placed over the grave and the building was repaired in 1885-86 and 1902-03; in 1925-26 Ebrahim Qavam al-Molk built a new wall and planted pines¹. Ali-Asghar Hekmat, chairman of the Society for National Heritage’s board, found the place dirty and ruinous². The Society began the present tomb in 1948, designed by Mohsen Foroughi with Ali Sadegh under André Godard’s supervision^1,5. Built by Iranian engineers and Shirazi workers, it was inaugurated by Mohammad Reza Shah on 1 May 1952².

The present tomb shows the influence of Isfahan’s Chehel Sotun palace and is laid out on two axes at right angles, with the garden entrance in line with the entrance of the tomb¹. A portico whose roof rests on eight square columns leads into the domed chamber, 8 by 8 metres, square outside and octagonal inside, under a dome covered with turquoise tiles¹. West of the chamber an arcade of seven arches, 18 by 6 metres, ends in a room of about 6 by 6 metres holding the grave of the poet Shurideh Shirazi, now a library¹. Unlike the open pavilion over Hafez’s grave, also in Shiraz, Saadi’s chamber is closed⁵.

The structure is of reinforced concrete, faced with black stone at the base, red stone on the columns and the front of the portico, travertine outside and marble inside; the decoration combines carved stone, haft-rangi and mosaic tiles, plasterwork and inscriptions¹. About 10 metres below the courtyard, west of Shurideh’s tomb, a vaulted octagonal chamber reached by 28 steps holds the fish pool, fed by the Saadi qanat; its Seljuk-style tilework was designed by the master craftsman Tirandaz in 1993-94^1,4. Since 2001 the municipality of Shiraz has enlarged the grounds to 5.4 hectares¹.

The domed chamber holds Saadi’s gravestone of pale red stone, with verses written in decorative medallions by Ali-Akbar Khan Qavam Shirazi¹. Seven inscriptions in nastaliq script on blue mosaic tiles, chosen from the Golestan, the Bustan and Saadi’s ghazals and qasidas, are set into the walls; they were written by Haji Baqer Naqqash, Karim Faghfouri and Ebrahim Bouzari, and one of them records the date of the new building^1,2. The walls are faced with marble and the inside of the dome combines plaster and tile; a short account of Saadi’s life is written on the entrance door of the domed chamber¹.