FIROOZABAD PALACE AND ZOROASTRIAN TEMPLE
The Great Firoozabad Palace near Goor City (referred to by many historians as a fire temple) can be counted as the first vaulted and the most precious Sassanid structure within Iran. Firoozabad Palace and Fire Temple was built in the third century CE in Tangab region next to the Ghomp or Khonp River at about 100 kilometers south east of Shiraz and two kilometres to Firoozabad. The main structure gives the impression of a huge cubic volume measuring 104m in length and 55m in width. The structure of the complex is made of three different parts: The first part opens to a pond and comprises of a lofty ivan with a wagon vault measuring 28 metres in length and 14 metres in width flanked by four large rooms perpendicular to it. As a distinguished ele- ment and a special hall, the ivan was used for audiences, and similar examples of it appeared later in other large buildings such as Taq Kasra, or Takht-e Soleyman serving as a monumental and glorious element. Through a stairway, the ivan connects to the facing pond which is located on a lower level. In the middle of the building rise the three domed halls usually re- garded as the oldest known Iranian domes. They rest on four-metres-wide walls. The halls are connected to the other parts of the palace through corridors and openings. According to Estakhri, these three large domes housed the three sacred fires of the Sassanid dynasty. As the central core of the complex, the middle dome is built on a full octagon while the side domes are placed on hexagons. The upper part of domes have an open- ing that measures one metre in diameter. Like other Sassanid memorial buildings, in Firoozabad Fire Temple the yard plays an important role. In fact, the third part of the complex is a square-shaped yard located at the centre with two facing ivans and rooms on its four sides. The secondary entrance of the complex (nearly undis- tinguishable and very small compared to the huge scale of the building, most probably used by servants) as well as the narrow stairway leading to the corridors of the second storey of the fire temple are located on the western wing of this section. What was said above about the Firoozabad Palace and Temple testifies to the special respect and veneration that the client and architect held for the pond… It is as if all those present in the building, surrounded by high walls and deprived of any view to nature were forced to face the exterior in the single direction imposed by the opening, allowing them to appreciate the holy values of water through its wide ivan.