| The eivan and
porch were probably erected shortly after 1316 to cover
the grave of Amu Abdollah Soqla, a hermit, who was buried
here. The minarets are of later, possibly Safavid,
origin, and are largely responsible for the fame of the
shrine. Because of the ratio between the height and width
of the minarets and the width of the eivan, if you climb
into one minaret and shake it, the other will shake in
unison. This constant shaking has been responsible for
considerable structural damage, although this is locally
blamed on British interference! There is another pair of
shaking minarets built during the time of Oljeitu, at
Oshtorjan, although these have lost the upper two thirds.
The wooden
beams on the upper part of the minarets have been placed
there to facilitate the shaking of the minarets, but the
presence of wood in the brickwork causes other
complications. Shaking is in theory restricted to once
every twenty minutes, however, particularly during
holidays, there is a constant stream of visitors who
experiment with the phenomenon, and the visitor will have
ample chance to observe it from ground level, without
running the risk of being blamed for any further
dereliction.
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