The parties to the Iran war have agreed to a ceasefire. Thus, Donald Trump loses, for now, an opportunity to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age. He must also postpone the destruction of the mausoleum of the incomparable Ferdowsi, the national poet who a thousand years ago wrote Shahnameh, a work of some 50,000 lines.
In northeastern Iran, not far from the city of Mashhad, lie the remains of Tus, once a cultural center along the Silk Road between East and West. Today it has been reduced to ruins, earthen ramparts and silent fields. Here, on the edge of the ancient city, rests Abu al-Qasim Ferdowsi.
The mausoleum rising above his grave is anything but modest. It was built in its present form in the twentieth century, under Reza Shah, at a time when Iran sought to highlight its pre-Islamic heritage. The structure is inspired by ancient Persian monuments, in pale stone with columns and reliefs that give it a classical appearance.