page_title: Imam Reza Shrine
section_title: Modern era
hierarchical_section_title: Imam Reza Shrine / History / Modern era
caption_attribution_description: English: Imam Reza's shrine at the heart of Mashhadفارسی: حرم امام رضا در قلب مشهد
context_page_description: The Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran is a complex which contains the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Twelver Shi‘ites. It is the largest mosque in the world by area. Also contained within the complex are the Goharshad Mosque, a museum, a library, four seminaries, a cemetery, the Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, a dining hall for pilgrims, vast prayer halls, and other buildings.
  The complex is a tourism center in Iran and has been described as "the heart of the Shia Iran" with 25 million Iranian and non-Iranian Shias visiting the shrine each year, according to a 2007 estimate. The complex is managed by Astan Quds Razavi Foundation and currently headed by Ahmad Marvi, a prominent Iranian cleric.
  The shrine itself covers an area of 267,079 square metres while the seven courtyards which surround it cover an area of 331,578 square metres, totaling 598,657 m².
  Every year the ceremony of Dust Clearing is celebrated in the Imam Reza shrine.
context_section_description: There happened some essential changes round the complex in 1347/1928, when Falakah (round open space with the radius of 180 meters from the top of the Dome was established. Then they began to build the Museum, the library and the Hall for ceremonies. Old Falakah was extended up to a radius of 620 meters before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, and an important part of Holy Buildings' historical structure was demolished without considering its antiquity and elegance.
  On 11th Rabi al-Thani 1354 A.H. /13 July 1935, during the Goharshad Mosque rebellion, the armed forces of Reza Shah (b. 1878, r. 1925-1941 A.D.), the founder of Pahlavi dynasty in Iran, invaded the holy shrine and massacred people gathered in the Goharshad Mosque. The people there were protesting against the anti-Islamic law by Reza Shah of banning Hijab (headscarf) for women in Iran. During the days of Iranian Revolution, on 21 November 1978 Mohammad Reza Shah's (b. 1919, r. 1941-1978 A.D.) troops killed a large number of people within the shrine.
  The shrine is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 100 rials coin, issued since 2004.
caption: Imam Reza shrine at night, 2012
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