A flanged, cylindrical, slightly tapering tower with a conical roof on a small hill, built as the tomb of Shams al-Ma'ali Qabus. Qabus was an astrologer, poet, calligrapher, and patron of numerous scholars and writers, including Ibn Sina. He reigned in Gurgan until his assassination in 1012, five years after initiation of the tomb's construction. There is no access to the roof, which has a small opening in the eastern side, and no underground chamber. Reports suggest that Qabus', in a glass coffin, was suspended within the dome, the morning sun striking his body through the eastern opening. The interior is undecorated and without fenestrated. On the exterior face, between the ten flanges, are two rows of inscriptions in brick-formed Kufic.
Source:
Pope, A. U. and Ackerman, P. eds. 'A Survey of Persian Art', (Tehran: Soroush Press, 1977) 967-974
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