Getting to know the 87-year-old building of Prince Hamid in the slopes of Rastghan

Prince Hamid’s building is one of the imamzadeh buildings of the region with local architectural features, which is important to preserve the traditional architecture of the work in future archaeological studies and preserve the cultural identity of the region. The building of this work is related to the late Qajar era, but the characteristics of the arch and dome and the plan of the building are rooted in the centuries-old architecture of the region in the Islamic era.

Raz and Jarglan city is located in the north of North Khorasan province and this part is in the northernmost area of ​​the city and borders with Turkmenistan from the north. The climate and geography of this region include mountains and low and high hills and small intermountain valleys and plains.

The most important river in the region is the Atrak River, which passes through the southern parts of this region and is outside of the Raz and Jerglan counties in terms of political divisions. The most important sources of water supply in the region are permanent springs and streams that flow in the corners of the valleys. Today, a large number of small rivers in the region, which were formed by connecting the springs, have become waterless due to the dryness of the springs.

The major settlements and settlements of the region, for example, the city of Raz, Gholaman, and the Jarglan region, are formed in small intermountain plains, and small and seasonal settlements have been established on steep slopes and small valleys. The most important occupations of the people of the region are animal husbandry and agriculture, which compared to each other, it seems that animal husbandry is more prosperous due to the specific geographical conditions (many mountains and valleys), and the production of handicrafts among the people of this region has a very important place.

This region, which is located between the lands of southern Turkmenistan and northern Khorasan and adjacent to Golestan province, is very important in terms of studying ancient settlements. Not having complete archaeological information about the region and its historical and cultural traditions being unknown are among the factors that make every researcher interested in studying the works and sites of this city.

One of the ancient monuments of Raz and Jarglan city, which is located 200 meters east of Rastghan village, is Prince Hamid’s building, which we have introduced in the present case.

Cultural heritage expert Mohammad Javad Jafari explains in an interview with ISNA: Prince Hamid’s building is located 200 meters east of Rastghan village on the slopes of the mountain. Rastghan village and this building were both on the northern slopes of a wide valley with east-west direction. A small river with permanent water flows from inside this valley, which passes 300 meters south of the said work. The natural shape of the land in this area consists of mountains and earthen hills and wide shallow valleys. The vegetation of the area includes wild shrubs and thorn bushes and walnut and grape orchards.

He also says about the characteristics of the work: The building and plan of Imamzadeh is a polygonal building with a dome. The entrance to the building is a porch on the west side of the building, facing Rastghan village. It is octagonal from the outside and quadrangular inside. The west-east length of the building is 6 meters and the east-west width is 5 meters.

A staircase in the northern part of the building is 1 meter long and 2 meters high, which leads to the roof of the building with 6 steps. The dome with a new cement coating is semi-circular in shape, with a rectangular cube 90 cm high at the top of the dome. The diameter of the dome on the roof of the building is 3.5 meters.

Unfortunately, today, the external parts of Prince Hamid’s building have been restored with new materials and all the external decorations and features of the building have been placed under a thick layer of cement. The internal parts of the building, including all the walls from the floor to a height of 1.5 meters, are covered with cement, but fortunately, parts of the arches in the four directions of the building and the dome are intact, and the art of brickwork and turning the arch into a dome is clearly visible.

The materials used in the building include plaster mortar and square bricks. The interior parts of the building are covered with plaster. In the inner part of the building, it is a quadrilateral volume with arches in four directions, which starts from the floor and leads to the dome in the part where the dome divides into a quadrilateral with the construction of three corners or so-called chapirah.

Regarding the history and naming of the work, he also adds: According to the inscription of the construction of Prince Hamid’s building on the head of its entrance, the construction date of the building is 1314 AH equal to the end of the Qajar rule. Regarding the name of the work, we can refer to a new inscription written on the tombstone of Prince Hamid, which reads:

“in the name of God

Dome of Prince Abdul Hamid Ibn Prince Yahya Ibn Zayd Ibn Hasan Mojtaba Ibn Ali peace be upon him

First of all: 424 years ago, our village was named Rostam Khan. He was martyred by the Yaghis. At that time, there was a one-meter wall around his grave. Until our fathers founded this village. It has been 89 years since this village was called Rastghan. At the beginning, when the village was built, the tomb of this man was built under the guidance of Sheikh Ali Turk, a dome and a court.

Peace be upon you and…

Did you remember the humble Mullah Barat Ali Rostgar?

The historic monument of Prince Hamid was registered in the list of national monuments of the country in 2005 with number 24236.