Built in 1738-1739, the Sun Palace or the Kalat Palace is one of the few buildings built during the reign of Nader Shah Afshar who was assassinated before the construction ended. Kalat means castles and villages on top of a mountain, and this region in Khorasan is famous for its highly impenetrable castles. Upon his return from the Indian campaign, the Shah ordered the Indian architect and engineer captives to build him a palace there to store his treasure. Then, he named the palace after his wife Khorshid, meaning the Sun. Today, the palace operates as a museum of anthropology.

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The architecture of the 18th-century Sun Palace is an exquisite blend of Iranian and Indian architecture.

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The palace used to be 25 meters tall on 3 floors; however, the top floor deteriorated over time. Today, the 20-meter-tall structure comprises 12 rooms and a cylindrical tower sitting on top of an octagonal base. The façade made of brownstones is decorated with floral carvings, while the interior features stucco and paintings of such images as tropical fruits and birds. Furthermore, eight interconnected rooms surround an Ilkhanid mausoleum on an octagonal platform inside the palace’s basement.
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Gilles Cremonesi

Gilles Cremonesi

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