The Soleymaniyeh Palace (
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
: کاخ سلیمانیه) is a
Qajar era
Qajar Iran (), also referred to as Qajar Persia, the Qajar Empire, '. Sublime State of Persia, officially the Sublime State of Iran ( fa, دولت علیّه ایران ') and also known then as the Guarded Domains of Iran ( fa, ممالک م ...
royal residence in
Karaj
Karaj ( fa, کرج, ) is the capital of Alborz Province, Iran, and effectively a satellite city of Tehran. Although the county hosts a population around 1.97 million, as recorded in the 2016 census, most of the county is rugged mountain. The urb ...
,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. It is notable for the paintings inside that show
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar's brothers and
Fathali Shah Qajar and his sons.
History
The building was constructed by the order of Fathali Shah Qajar in a large garden near the Karaj river. The architect of the place was
Hajji Mohammad Hossein Isfahani.
There are two stories regarding the name of the building. The more probable one states that the place was built on the occasion of the birth of the Shah's 34th son named Soleiman Mirza. Soleiman Miza is shown as a kid near the throne in one of the paintings.
However, Gaspard Drouville, a Frenchman who was in Iran at the time, reports that a son of Fathali Shah,
Mohammad Ali Mirza Dowlatshah, was unhappy of
Abbas Mirza
Abbas Mirza ( fa, عباس میرزا; August 26, 1789October 25, 1833) was a Qajar crown prince of Iran. He developed a reputation as a military commander during the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 and the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, as ...
's designation as the crown prince, and to prove his worth engaged in warfare with the
Ottoman governor of Iraq,
Suleiman Pasha, defeated him and took a hefty loot. He then sent the loot to the capital, and the Shah made the palace with that money and named it Soleymaniyeh to forever commemorate the victory over the Ottomans.
[دروویل، گاسپار. ''سفرنامه دروویل''. ترجمه جواد محبی، گوتنبرگ: ۱۳۸۴، تهران. ص۱۶۸]
There are two paintings by
Abdallah Khan in the building, one showing the brothers of
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ( fa, آقا محمد خان قاجار, translit=Âqâ Mohammad Xân-e Qâjâr; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (, ), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, rul ...
, and the other showing
Fathali Shah Qajar and his courtiers.
A 5 floors tall
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
tower used to be near the building once, but it was demolished and now only the ruins of the first floor remains.
It was listed in
the national heritage sites of Iran with the number 370 on 21 February, 1949.
References
{{coord missing, Iran
Palaces in Iran
National works of Iran
Buildings of the Qajar period
19th-century establishments in Iran
Karaj