Adrian Temple of Tehran

In the 19th century, the Indian subcontinent harbored a large community of Zoroastrian Parsis, descendants from Persians who fled from religious persecution after the Arab conquest of Persia, as well as later Zoroastrian refugees fleeing Qajar rule.{{Cite book |last=Skutsch |first=Carl |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203935606/encyclopedia-world-minorities-carl-skutsch |title=Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities |date=2013-11-07 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-19388-1 |pages=953 |language=en}} In 1853, the Society for the Amelioration of the Conditions of the Zoroastrians in Persia was founded in Bombay, India, with the goal of improving conditions for Zoroastrians in the "original homeland" of Iran.{{cite book |last=Strausberg |first=Michael |author-link= |url= |title=The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-4443-3135-6 |editor1-last=Stausberg |editor1-first=Michael |location= |pages=173–190 |chapter=Zoroastrians in Moden Iran |editor2-last=Vevaina |editor2-first=Yuhan Sohrab‐Dinshaw}}

The Iran-Parsi connections were instrumental in the realization of the Adrian Temple: it was largely made possible by Keikhosrow Shahrokh, who had been to school in Bombay, with the financial backing of the Bombay sisters Zarbai and Sunabai Dubash as well as of Parsi philanthropist Bahramji Bikaji.{{cite journal |last1=Grigor |first1=Talinn |date=2016 |title=Persian Architectural Revivals in the British Raj and Qajar Iran |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/cssaame/article-abstract/36/3/384/270/Persian-Architectural-Revivals-in-the-British-Raj |journal=Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=384–397 |doi=10.1215/1089201x-3698959 |access-date=26 July 2024}}{{cite web |last= |first= |date=24 August 2020 |title=Iran's Quiet Ban on Muslims Visiting Other Places of Worship |url=https://iranwire.com/en/features/67498/ |access-date=27 July 2024 |website=IranWire |publisher=}} Shahrokh was the first Zoroastrian representative to the Iranian parliament, serving from 1908 until 1940.{{cite journal |last1=Grigor |first1=Talinn |date=2010 |title=Parsi Patronage of the Urheimat |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23005408 |journal=Getty Research Journal |volume=2 |issue= |pages=53–68 |doi= |access-date=26 July 2024}}

The foundation stone was laid in August 1913 by the minister of education at the time, and future prime minister, Mehdi Qoli Hedayat. However, due to bad press concerning Tehran Zoroastrians in Bombay newspapers, the financial aid from India halted, leaving the temple without a roof until Zoroastrians within Iran were able to finance its completion in 1917.{{cite web |last= |first= |date=7 April 2015 |title=نیایشگاه آدریان |url=https://seeiran.ir/%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B4%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87-%D8%A2%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86/ |access-date=27 July 2024 |website=سیری در ایران |publisher= |quote=}}

The consecration ceremony was held on 30 November 1917, or the ninth day of the ninth month in the Zoroastrian and Persian calendars, the day of the fire festival of Azergan.{{cite web |last=وحیدی |first=شقایق |date= |title=آتشکده آدریان |url=https://www.kojaro.com/attraction/64479-tehran-adrian-temple/ |access-date=27 July 2024 |website=کجارو |publisher= |quote=}} The fire within the temple, which has been burning ever since, was brought over the course of 25 days from the Fire Temple of Yazd, and thus claims a lineage of fire going back to at least 470 CE.

The originally brick façade was changed to marble in 1966, financed by Fereydoun Farahmand in memory of Shirmard Farahmand.

The layout of the temple is based on Parsi designs. A portico of six columns flanks the entrance, leading into the assembly and prayer hall. Burning within the domed fire chamber, or ātašgāh, the fire is visible from three sides through glass windows. The building sits on a site of approximately 1300 square metres, and is fronted by an oval 4-by-8 metre water basin. The building contains an additional hall, named Iraj, for ceremonies, among other rooms and halls in the complex.

Managed by the Zoroastrian Association of Tehran, the Adrian Temple is the only functioning and active Zoroastrian fire temple in Tehran. While it is thus used for Zoroastrian ceremonies including Nowruz, Sadeh, and weddings, for example, it is at other times open for visits by the general public.

• List of fire temples in Iran
• Iran National Heritage List
• {{Commons category-inline}}

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Category:Zoroastrianism in Iran

Category:Religious buildings and structures in Tehran

Category:1917 establishments in Iran

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1917