Quran Gate

🕰️When was it built?

The first gate was built under Azod al-Dowleh of the Buyid dynasty, and Karim Khan Zand rebuilt it. It was pulled down in 1936, and in 1949 Hossein Igar built today's gate a short distance from the old spot. The new building is larger than the one before.

🏛️What was it built for?

The gate was the way in and out of the city, and a Quran was kept in the room above it so that travellers, trusting in a safe journey, passed beneath it. The gate's name comes from this custom. For a time, people went out of the city on the first day of every month to walk under the arch.

👀What you will see

• The central opening has a pointed arch, with two smaller entrances built into the piers on either side.
• The rectangular room above the arch was made to hold the Quran, but the old manuscripts are no longer here.
• Quranic verses in thuluth and naskh script run around parts of the gate, and the text on the city side differs from the north side.
• Hossein Igar and his wife are buried in the small side rooms, so the builder of the new gate rests here too.

💡Something interesting

In 1937 the two famous handwritten Qurans from above the gate were moved to the Pars Museum. They are attributed to the hand of Ebrahim Soltan, grandson of the Timurid ruler Shahrukh, and are now part of the museum's collection.

🎒Good to know before you go

• To see the old handwritten Qurans, visit the Pars Museum (Tomb of Karim Khan Zand); they are not kept in the room above the gate.