TEHRAN -- Two stairways of the Gonbad-e Sorkh (Red Dome) in Maragheh, East Azerbaijan Province were unearthed during the recent renovation process of the dome, the Persian service of CHN reported on Friday.

The director of the Maragheh Cultural Heritage and Tourism Office said that experts discovered the stairs while they were reconstructing and renovating the courtyard of the dome.

“The stairways are two meters tall and 40 centimeters wide and also require renovation,” Naser Zavvari added.

Gonbad-e Sorkh was built in 1195 on the orders of the governor of Azerbaijan.

The monument was made using a combination of brick and tile. Zavvari noted that the process of reconstruction and renovation began five years ago, adding, “Renovation of the exterior section of the dome has been completed and experts are now working on the interior section of the dome.”

He also mentioned the installation of Iran’s first vertical solar clock in the vicinity of Gonbad-e Sorkh last year.

The solar clock was set up in Maragheh on the occasion of the World Year of Physics in a collaborative effort of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, the Maragheh Astrology Research Center, and the office of the cultural attache of the French Embassy in Tehran.