Alavian Dome

The Alavian Dome is a square brick monument from the late Seljuk period, around the 12th century, built by the Alavian, a family of local notables who held sway in Hamedan for generations. Despite its name the building has lost its dome; what survives is a tall, almost cubic hall whose walls are one of the masterpieces of medieval Persian ornament.

Every surface of the entrance portal and the interior is covered in carved stucco: deep, interlacing vines, palmettes and geometric bands, layered so densely that the plaster seems to grow out of the brick. Art historians rank it among the finest stucco work surviving anywhere in Iran, and the patterned brickwork on the outer walls is worth studying in its own right.

Beneath the hall a narrow spiral stair leads down to a vaulted crypt with the family graves, lined in turquoise tiles. The building was later used as a mosque, and its prayer niche (mihrab) is among the richest parts of the decoration.

The monument stands in a quiet square in central Hamedan, a short walk south of the Baba Taher Mausoleum, so the two are easy to visit together. Come in the afternoon, when low sunlight rakes across the portal and brings the stucco into sharp relief.