Takyeh Dowlat

District 12, Iran

No longer standing

Demolished or destroyed.

Find out more

ReferenceCarthalia (theatres)↗

Built in 1868 by order of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, the Takyeh Dowlat was a grand royal theater in Tehran designed by architect Hossein-Ali Mehrin. With a capacity of 20,000 people, it stood as the largest theater in Iran's history, its sumptuous magnificence rivaling Europe's greatest opera houses—Western visitors compared it to the Verona Arena. The round building, constructed of tile, brick, stone, and wood in the Qajar architectural style, originally featured a colossal 24-meter-tall rotunda crowned by a steel dome, both later demolished in the late 19th century due to structural concerns. Following the assassination of Naser al-Din Shah in 1896, the theater's royal significance waned and it became home to the Iranian Senate. In 1925, Reza Shah proclaimed the end of the Qajar dynasty from its stage. The building was demolished in 1946.