Mashhad, one of the most important centers of faith tourism in Iran, hosts millions of visitors every year.
Mashhad, the second most populated city in the country, located in the province of Rezevi Khorasan, is built on an area of drought and heat that can be called a desert.
The most important reason why the settlement, formerly called Sanabad, has grown so much is that the tomb of Ali er-Rıza, who is accepted as the eighth imam of the "12 Imam" line in Shiite belief, is located here.
The name of the city, which was Sanabad, was later changed to "Mashhad-i Imam Reza", which means "the place where Imam Reza was martyred", and it is currently known as "Mashhad" for short.
As the settlement began to grow with the increase in visits to the tombs in time, the first steps of the region to become a city were taken.
In the middle of the 13th century, the mausoleum in the city of Mashhad did not survive the destruction of the Mongols, which continued until Baghdad.
The kulliye, where the tomb is located, first began to take shape during the Timurid period. With the Gevher Şad Mosque, which was built by Timur Gürkan's young son Şahrud's wife and Uluğ Bey's mother, Gevher Şad Begüm, the complex attained its present classical appearance.
During the Timurids period, Ali Şir Nevai's section called the "old pan" and the high door built at the entrance to the tomb, and the two new doors on the right and left and the clock tower, which were built by Shah Abbas the First during the Safavids period, form the main lines of the building.
For the complex, which continued to be enlarged with additions during the Qajars period, expansion works continued in the last century.
In the complex, where the architectural effects of the Timurid period are clearly seen, architectural innovations were also included in time. The interior parts of the place, whose walls are made of bricks and glazed bricks and tiles are used in places, were covered with mirrored glass mosaics during the reign of Qajar Sultan Nasırüddin Shah.
Nasırüddin Shah also covered the cylindrical high dome above the mausoleum with gold, bringing the shrine to the forefront, which is overshadowed by the magnificent dome of the Gevher Şad Mosque.
The activities to turn the region into a touristic area ended with the 1979 revolution.
With the plan prepared by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the residential areas around the complex where the tomb was located were evacuated in the 1960s and turned into an empty space between the city and the complex. The efforts to transform the region into a touristic area ended with the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
With the 1979 revolution that took place in Iran, the new rulers of the country worked to reunite the complex with the city and added the emptied areas to the complex, thus transforming the area into a place where 500 thousand people could pray at the same time.
With this feature, Imam Reza Complex has taken its place among the largest mosques in the world.
The complex currently houses many structures such as Gevher Şad Mosque, Imam Reza Tomb, Quran Museum, Astan Kuds Manuscripts Library, Public Library, Aşhane, Hospital.
Since Mashhad was built around the tomb from the earliest times, all the major streets of the city somehow lead to the complex area.
It is possible to see the turquoise dome of the Gevher Şad Mosque and the golden yellow dome of the Imam Reza Tomb when viewed from the beginning of the streets.
With the colorful lighting system installed in and around the complex, the place is also visible at night. The bazaars and markets established around the complex are also the biggest source of the city's economic cycle.