Sights

East Azarbaijan Maragheh Maragheh is located 143 km (86 miles) from Tabriz. maragheh was an important city under Arab and was the capital of the Mongol dynasty for a period. Due to religious tolerance during this period, it brought a lot of foreigners such as Nestorian Christians and Buddhists to the area. Very little has remained of Maragheh's earlier history. Almost nothing has left from Hulagu's famous observatory that was established in a cave outside Maragheh. Friday Mosque is also in ruin. Four remarkable well preserved brick tomb towers from 12th century remains. The oldest one is the Gonbad-e Sorkh (Red Tomb) with deep red color bricks, a square building, eight sided roof and a stalactite ceiling. The exterior walls is decorated with kufic inscriptions and there is some touches of turquoise tilework. Gonbad-e Kabud is decorated as it was a mehrab in each side of the building. The roof was once completely decorated with turquoise tiles but a few traces remains today. Borj-e Madar-e Hulagu still dates back to 12 century but Gonbad-e Ghafariyeh dates back from early 14th century. Gonbad-e Ghafariyeh was built from red bricks but it is decorated with black, blue and white tiles. The fifth mausoleum called Khoi Burj from Timurid period collapsed in 1938.