Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
AROUND TEHRAN
Away from the hyperactive streets of the capital are several easily accessible day trips and
ski slopes, and the highest mountain in the Middle East.
Holy Shrine of Imam Khomeiniماما مرح
ينیمخ
When future generations look back, the early years of the Islamic Republic will be re-
membered as a time of great endeavour on the building front. This, the resting place of
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (known as His Holiness Imam Khomeini in death), is the
grandest of those endeavours. But while the scale of the
Holy Shrine of Imam Khomeini
(
Click here
;
24hr; Haram-e Motahar)
is quite enormous, the detail often falls short
of historic shrines elsewhere in Iran.
THE FUNERAL OF AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI
In 1989, the Islamic Republic's final send-off for its founder and inspiration, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, culmin-
ated in the largest funeral ever held in the world - a crush of 10 million inconsolable mourners. It was a chaotic scene.
As the hearse tried to move towards the cemetery it was stopped repeatedly before the crowd eventually took the
coffin and started passing it over their heads. By the time a helicopter was summoned it was too late and even the
armed Komiteh guards couldn't stop the body falling out of the coffin, and the crowd trying to tear pieces off the
shroud to keep as holy relics.
Unless you thrive on chaos, you're advised not to come here on or around 4 June, the anniversary of the ayatollah's
death, when hundreds of thousands of mourners visit the shrine.
The shrine is located between Tehran, the town that launched the 1979 revolution, and
Qom, where the great man underwent his theological training. It's flanked by four 91m-
high towers symbolising Khomeini's age when he died. The huge gold central dome is ad-
orned with 72 tulips, which symbolise the 72 martyrs who fought and died with Imam Hos-
sein in Karbala.
