Hour 15:37
01 Sep 25
Mohammad Shah Qajar, like his prominent grandfather Fath-Ali Shah, was very fond of Shemiran and Niavaran in the north of the capital as summer retreats. He decided to construct a building befitting of a king outside the lands of Niavaran, which belonged to his wife, Malek Jahan Khanom, known as Mahd-e Olia. The lands of Asadabad in Zafaraniyeh, west of Niavaran and Tajrish, were selected for this purpose, and the Mohammadieh Mansion was built.
In the summer of 1264 AH / 1848 AD, while Mohammad Shah was ill, he sought to escape the heat and stayed at this mansion—even though it was still unfinished and workers were actively building it. However, after just a few days, he passed away there. His successor, Naser al-Din Mirza (later known as Naser al-Din Shah), who came from Tabriz to Tehran, refused to set foot in the Mohammadieh Mansion, fearing its “ill omen” and the possibility of his newly established reign becoming a “fleeting rule.” He was just about sixteen years old and faced many claimants to the throne. On the advice of his mother and Mirza Taqi Khan (later known as Amir Kabir), his guardian at the time, he considered his mother's (Mahd-e Olia) village, the safest place for a royal summer retreat. In 1268 AH, he established his summer residence complex—including gardens, a palace, and inner quarters—in Niavaran.
Previously, part of his wedding ceremony (during his time as crown prince) had taken place in the same garden due to the heat in Tehran. Naser al-Din Shah was so fond of the garden and palace in Niavaran that no other palace in Tabriz, Tehran, or Shemiran ever meant as much to him. It is said that Niavaran's status for Naser al-Din Shah was parallel to the position of the Qajar Palace for Fath-Ali Shah and that of the Mohammadieh Palace for Mohammad Shah—a palace of his own, not one inherited from former kings.
Naser al-Din Shah's palace was an east-west oriented three-story building made up of multiple high-quality structures, adorned with traditional Iranian art, and constructed in a stepped manner on a sloped land. It featured southern-facing balconies offering a vast view over the entire city of Tehran. Perhaps this was the reason for its name "Jahan-Nama," meaning "world-viewing palace," as one standing on its balcony could gaze upon the world before them.
Extending from these southern balconies and facing the stunning view, a garden was designed and built down the slope. Along the way, the slope was flattened in three stages before continuing downward. The water from a qanat flowed through shallow channels carved into the slope, rushing over the “abshureh”s (grooved surfaces that slowed fast-flowing water), and filling pools along the way. This created a beautiful scene.
On each of the three stages sat a pool, all made of marble with fountains in the center. The architect had attempted to symbolize that Naser al-Din Shah's palace stood above three tiers, each representing one of the earlier Qajar kings (Agha Mohammad Khan, Fath-Ali Shah, and Mohammad Shah), with each fountain depicting the hand of these ancestors rising from the pool, scattering pearls and jewels into the sky.
To the west, south, and southwest of the palace, groups of courtiers and government associates—who had no summer residences of their own—stayed in luxurious tents, which were no less grand than the palace itself.
To the north of the palace (approximately where the private Niavaran Palace of the Pahlavi era stands), no courtiers were allowed to pass, as this area belonged to the royal harem. To preserve the sanctity of the harem, the Shah even ordered the evacuation of part of the Niavaran village that overlooked the garden, relocating the residents to the Hesar-e Bu Ali neighborhood (present-day Niavaran Cultural Center and surrounding lands) to prevent any inappropriate gaze upon the harem’s women.
Despite the enormous costs spent on building the Jahan-Nama Palace, its structural integrity rapidly deteriorated. By Ordibehesht 1269 AH / April 1853 AD, only about a year after its construction, when a cholera outbreak hit Tehran following a rainy spring, the Shah quickly left for Niavaran. Upon arrival, he noticed serious structural defects in the palace. At that point, not a single room in the entire palace could be occupied without an umbrella due to leakage. During this time, the ceiling of the royal library suddenly collapsed, damaging many precious and rare books.
Soon after, when Haj Ali Khan Hajeb-od-Dowleh—the supervisor of the royal estates (equivalent to the future minister of the royal court)—fell from royal favor, all buildings constructed under his direction were ordered to be demolished. The fate of the Jahan-Nama Palace, also one of his projects, was no exception. The Shah's order was so strict that in some cases, where the buildings were too sturdy to be destroyed with workers’ mallets, gunpowder was used! Thus, under Naser al-Din Shah’s command, all the new structures from the first decade of his reign were demolished, and the Jahan-Nama Palace was forever wiped from the face of the earth.