Takyeh Dowlat


The Takyeh Dowlat was a royal theater in Tehran, Iran. It was the most famous of all the ta'zieh performance spaces, for the Mourning of Muharram. It had a capacity for more than 4,000 people. Built in 1868 by the order of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, south-east of the Golestan Palace on the site of the Síyáh-Chál, the royal theater's sumptuous magnificence surpassed that of Europe's greatest opera houses in the opinion of many Western visitors. Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin said on his first visit that it was comparable to Verona Arena.
According to Karim Pirnia, Hossein-Ali Mehrin was the architect of this building.

Notable events

It was here that Reza Shah proclaimed the downfall of the Qajar dynasty. The Takyeh Dowlat was destroyed in 1947 and a bank building was constructed on its site.