Madrasa Shah Kamaliya

The domed tomb chamber known as Shah Kamaliya is located in the vicinity of the Friday Mosque of Yazd. According to contemporary local histories, it was part of a complex that comprised a madrasa, a khanqah, a mausoleum and a water reservoir built in 1320 (720 A.H.) by the order of Kamal al-Din Abolma'ali, a local patrician and vizier under the Muzaffarid ruler Mubaraz al-Din. Of the original complex, only the tomb-chamber and a bathhouse have survived.The extant monument comprises a rectangular courtyard, an iwan and a square tomb chamber in which the patron and his descendents were buried. The dome is decorated with blue tiles forming star-like geometric patterns. The interior displays inscriptive and floral decoration in painted plaster. During the restorations that were undertaken in the 1970s, the remains of luster-painted tiles containing figural and vegetal representations were discovered.Sources:Afshar, Iraj. 1969. Yadgarha-yi Yazd [Monuments of Yazd]. Vol. 2. Tehran: Anjuman-i Asar-i Melli, 610-613.Al-Katib, Ahmad ibn Husayn. 1938. Tarikh-i Jadid Yazd [New History of Yazd]. Yazd: Golbahar. [Second half of fifteenth century]. 147, 148.Wilber, Donald N. 1955. The Architecture of Islamic Iran: The Il-Khanid Period. New York: Greenwood Press, 187-188."Madrasa Kamaliya." Iranshahr Encyclopedia ofIranian Architectural History. http://iranshahrpedia.ir/arch/handle/10667/5506. [Accessed November 9, 2010]