Khorshid Palace

Khorshid Palace (sun house), in Kalat Nader city of Iran, was built in Afsharid dynasty after subjugating India by Nader Shah. This unique cylindrical palace built of black marble at Seventeenth Century.

This palace is located in the Naderi Kalat, not reaching Khorasan Razavi. By order of Nader Shah Afshar, the Khorshid Palace began to build in 1151 and until the last years of Nader Shah's life, in 1160, the construction of this building continued. The presence of the Neba Surah confirmed in the Sols Epigraphy around the dome. After the death of Nader Shah, this palace was half finished.

On the outer stones of the palace, you can see the shapes of parrots and fruits such as bananas and pineapple, which does not indicate that there were such fruits in Iran at that time, but they said that the palace built by the skillful captives’ architects Hindi.

Nader Shah has much treasures and golds because of his many conquests. Therefore, save his jewelry in a safe place, Nader Shah ordered to build Khorshid palace among Khorasan mountain. Its greatest treasures include Koh-I-Noor and Daria-I-Noor.

The "Khorshid" palace is a 3-story palace with a height of 25 meters, but unfortunately today, due to the destruction of the third floor, its height does not reach 20 meters.

The underground floor of this palace is a dreaded place that it said this floor was kept part of the Nader Shah treasury or prison for sinners.

• The first floor is an octagon that contract on four rows pillar.
• There is a hall surrounded by rooms on the ground floor that the walls painted with the Safavid style and gilt.
• The third floor is a large cylindrical dome that there are 66 semi-pillars of stone.
   

The palace has a sum of 12 rooms, which also decorated with paintings and stucco with excellent and varied details.

There are also pictures of Nader’s princes on the walls. The beauty of this mansion is more on the palace's outward appearance, in which there are the Mongolian and Indian architectures. In the middle of this building, a circular tower has been constructed with cracks like half-columns known as a cucumber.

• What is the best time to go?

The best season to travel to Kalat Naderi is the second half of spring and summer. Kalat winter is so cold and inappropriate for travelers. In the spring and autumn, the weather is good, but seldom it is raining.

• Getting there?

From Mashhad, a two-way asphalt road, which, of course, need much attention and careful driving, brings you to the Naderi Kalat. If you do not have a private car, you should go to the Bar Noghan Square in northern Mashhad.  There are buses and Taxi bring passengers to Kelat.

The duration of the trip by private car is 2 hours and a half and three to four hours by bus.

The natural ways of entering the city, which the locals call Darban, are hard and cruel. The best way is called the Arghon Shah, and there is Zharf river has crossed it. In recent decades, tunnels have been built alongside the Arghon Shah, making it shorter and simpler to enter the city.