'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎314v] (633/706)

61G
TEHRAN
From the Tup Maidan, two streets or avenues, for they are planted with
poplars, run m a northerly direction towards the outer walls The more
westerly of the two known as the Khlaban-i-Daulat contains the residences
of the representatives of several foreign powers. The British Legation
themTlf ^ m Stre6t and ^ the m ° St im P osin g and spacious of
Possibly the most interesting portion of Tehran is the a h or citadel
a ^ pa n C - e near ! y a c l uarter of a mile square on the southern
side of the Tup Maidan. Since the demolition of the old town th^re is
nothing to identify this enclosure with a citadel, and it is now noting but
a vast collection of gardens, courts and buildings belonging to the ?o V al
palace. Entering from the Khiaban-i-Almasleh and crossing a courtyard
the visitor enters another and larger courtyard, the entire upper end of
which is occupied by a handsome building, containing the Talar or throne
room, where is the Takht-i-Marmar or marble throne on which the Shah
sits and displays himself to the public on certain special occasiors, parti
cularly at the festival of Nau Ruz or New Year. A passage from the court
yard of the Talar leads mfo another and larger courtyard where the main
and state entrance to tr.e palace. It was under a threshold opening out of the
arcade between the two, that Agha Muhammad Khan deposited^ the bones
of Nadir Shah and Karim Khan, so that he might trample on them when
going in or out. Irom here a a staircase leads up to the state apartments •
at the top is the Shah s Library and Museum. In the museum are all the
royal regalia, amongst which may be mentioned a globe made of gold and
jewels valued at £ 947,000, crowns of former kings, and a modern throne
made by Agha Muhammad Khan fro n the remains of the celebrated pea
cock throne which he extracted from Shah Rukh, Nadir Shah’s grandson.
On the other side of the top of the staircase is a room sometimes called
the Council Chamber, where stands the Takht-i-Taus or peacock throne.
This is not the peacock throne brought by Nadir Shah from India but a
throne made by Path ’Ali Shah.
Lord Cufzon, after a careful investigation of all the facts and contempo
rary records, gives the following account of the celebrated Peacock Throne
of the Great Mogul. Nadir Shah brought it from India, and had an
exact duplicate of it made from other jewels. Thus there were two thrones
one of which was destroyed by the Kurds who plundered Nadir’s Camp
after he was murdered, the other was taken by Agha Muhammad from
Shah Rukh at Meshed, and converted into the modern throne mentioned
as being in the Museum. Beyond this room run a series of other apart
ments, which look out upon the Gulistan or rose-garden, consisting of paved
walks, flower beds and tanks, and extensive lakes, all planted with pines,
cypresses, plane and poplar trees. On the eastern side of the Gulistan
rises the Shams-el-Tmarat (sun of the palace), built in the form of two towers
s oping inwards towards the top, and terminating in two kiosques, a slender
clock-tower with a European clock rising from the roof between the two.
At the further extremity of the Gulistan is the royal theatre, which consists
of a great rotunda from the top of which rise the great arched and iron-
bound traverses of the roof over which awnings are stretched when the play
is acted in the heat of the day.