Mithra Temple of Maragheh

The Mithra Temple of Maragheh, also referred to as simply Mehr Temple, is a place of worship of the Aryan god, Mitra. A mysterious underground place of prayer in northwestern Iranian city of Maragheh dating back to the time of the Parthians, it is located 6 kilometers southeast of Maragheh city in the village of Varjuvy, in East Azerbaijan Province. It is one of the oldest surviving Mithraic temples in Iran known to date. It dates back at least to the time of the Parthians (Arsacid dynasty) and is a stone-rock building discovered under an ancient cemetery (although much of it is still buried). Outside of the main structure are remains of small cave-like rooms whose use is unclear.

The first archaeologist to describe this site was Parviz Varjavand in the early 1970s. The temple was constructed by cutting a huge schist stone into the ground and includes the temple, the cemetery, the stable and the chellekhaneh (place of prayer and meditation). The entrance of the temple to the very end of the altar has a sloping structure and measures approximately 38 meters. In the excavations carried out it was evident that this place had some stairs dating back to the Ilkhanid period but with the passage of time and with the crumbling of the ground, they have turned into a sloping surface. Today to enter the building one must go down some steps followed by a steep embankment leading to an underground corridor with a crescent-shaped ceiling at its entrance. The height of the entrance is 2.5 meters and the corridor is 17.60 meters long. To the left of the entrance carved in stone is an image similar to flowers and leaves but considering the tip and the end of it, it could also be a snake. The walls of the entrance corridor are made of natural rock. The width of this corridor varies between 4.70 and 7.20 meters. The central corridor has many pits that connect to underground rooms with domed ceilings.

This temple has a main hall and many rooms connecting to each other that have been carved in the rocky underground. 

To the left of the entrance in the heart of the rock a 10 by 10 square-shaped space has been dug. 

In its center there is a massive column with eight sides that divides this large room into four parts. At the top of each of these sections there is a skylight that illuminates the place adequately. The eastern part of this rock has a small room whose ceiling has similarities with that of the Maragheh Observatory.

The main hall contains Quranic inscriptions written in Naskhi script and leads to four domed and round rooms. 

At the far end of the main hall, there is a platform with two steps which reaches a circular room, 6 meters in diameter, containing an altar. 

In the center of the altar chamber a 1 by 2 meter wooden shrine is found which is known as the grave of Mullah Masoum Maraghei who was one of the well-known scholars of the eighteenth century of the region.Other than its main entrance, this room also connects back to the main hall via a winding hallway.

In 1978 the Mithra Temple was registered as one of Iran’s national relics with the registration number of 1556.