[custom_adv] Reza Shah's Mausoleum , located in Ray south of Tehran, was the burial ground of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944), the penultimate Shahanshah (Emperor) of Iran. It was built close to Shah-Abdol-Azim shrine. [custom_adv] In addition to Reza Shah, his son, Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi I, is also buried here. The prince who was Mohammad Reza Shah's only full brother, was a pilot and crashed in the Alborz Mountains on October 17, 1954. When the Mausoleum was destroyed, no one found the prince's body. [custom_adv] In the early days of the Iranian Revolution in April 1980, Reza Shah's Mausoleum was destroyed under the direction of Ayatollah Sadegh Khalkhali by Revolutionary Guards; In his memoirs, Khalkhali describes how difficult it was to destroy the building due to its solid structure. [custom_adv] Revolutionaries were unable to find Reza Shah's dead body and suggested that Mohammad Reza Shah had taken it with him while leaving Iran, a claim which was denied by Her Imperial Majesty Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi in an interview. On April 23, 2018, a mummified body, possibly that of Reza Shah, was found during expansion work at Shah Abdolazim Shrine at the site of the former mausoleum. [custom_adv] The construction of the mausoleum began in 1948. The engineers were Mohsen Foroughi, son of Mohammad Ali Foroughi, Keyqobad Zafar and Ali Sadeq, pioneers of modern architecture in Iran. In March 1950, the work was finished. [custom_adv] The coffin of Reza Shah was brought back from the Kingdom of Egypt by train and then by aeroplane, making two stops, one in Mecca and the other in Medina. Then, later, his body was transferred by plane to Ahvaz, and then later by train to Tehran. [custom_adv] On May 8, 1951, Reza Shah's Imperial funeral took place in Ray, in which Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the then Shahanshah (Emperor), along with the entire Pahlavi family, many ministers and Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, participated. [custom_adv] The mausoleum and its surroundings stretched over an area of 9,000 square metres, and was 25 metres high (without the cupola on the top), that is to say, its height was 7 metres shorter than the dome of the neighbouring Shah Abdolazim Mosque. The architectural style was inspired by the tomb of Les Invalides in Paris, where Napoléon rests.
