Olya Seminary, Tun (Ferdows)

🕰️When was it built?

The exact date it was built is not clear, but the building is thought to date from the late Timurid or early Safavid era. Some link the name of Mir Ali Beyg with its building and others with its restoration. The school was added to the National Heritage List on 3 February 1977 as number 1321.

🏛️What was it built for?

The complex was built for teaching religious sciences, and students and teachers used it until the earthquake of 1968. The iwans and cells gathered the teaching and living parts of such a school around the courtyard, and the open space in the middle linked them together.

👀What you will see

• The brick iwans have tall pointed arches and stand between the lower openings around the courtyard.
• The corners of the courtyard are cut off with slanted faces, giving the open space its many-sided shape.
• Several brick domes rise above the spaces around the courtyard and contrast with the upright mass of the iwans.
• Brick frames around the arches and rows of brick at the top of the walls form a decoration of the same material as the walls.

💡Something interesting

In the autumn of 2026 it was decided that the school would be restored and turned into a specialist museum of manuscripts and historic objects, a new cultural use for a building where students once took their lessons.

🎒Good to know before you go

• Before going in, ask the person in charge whether you can visit and where the restoration work area is.