Mausoleum of Reza Shah

The Mausoleum of Reza Shah (Persian: آرامگاه‌ رضاشاه) is a former mausoleum, history museum, and madrasa, that was located in Ray, south of the city of Tehran. The structure was the burial ground of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944), the penultimate Shahanshah (Emperor) of Iran. Completed in 1950, the complex was built close to Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine.; and was demolished in 1980 in the wake of the Iranian Revolution.

In addition to Reza Shah, his son, Prince Ali Reza, was also buried here. The prince, who was Mohammad Reza Shah's only full brother, was a pilot and crashed into the Alborz Mountains on 17 October 1954. When the mausoleum was demolished, the prince's remains were not found.

In the early days of the Islamic 1979 Revolution in April 1980, Reza Shah's mausoleum was destroyed under the direction of Sadegh Khalkhali by the Revolutionary Guards; In his memoirs, Khalkhali describes how difficult it was to destroy the building due to its solid structure. The revolutionaries were unable to find Reza Shah's remains and suggested that Mohammad Reza Shah had taken them with him while leaving Iran, a claim which was denied by Shahbanu (Empress) Farah Pahlavi in an interview. On 23 April 2018, a mummified body, possibly that of Reza Shah, was found during expansion work at Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine at the site of the former mausoleum.

The complex was added to the Iran National Heritage List on 9 February 1977. However, it was removed from the list following its destruction in 1980.