Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
you see today was built under Shah Abbas I and the other Safavid kings, who were
anxious to establish their Shiite credentials and provide a counterweight to the sect's
shrines at Karbala and Najaf (in modern-day Iraq), at the time under Ottoman occupation.
The magnificent golden cupola was an embellishment built by Qajar ruler Fath Ali Shah,
and today's 'shahs', the Ayatollahs of Qom, have embarked on a project to renovate and
expand the complex, building a huge rear plaza and ensuring that scaffolding on the build-
ing is ubiquitous.
Non-Muslims are allowed into the grounds (women must wear a chador, available at
entrance No 1), but not to see the shrine itself. The official policy is that non-Muslims
should be in a group with a tour guide who has been approved by the shrine's stewards,
but we have entered by ourselves on many occasions - just assure the guards that you will
not take any photographs or enter the shrine itself.
