From this complex, only the outer building remains, which is known as "Mahmoud Khan Zulfiqari Building". According to some traditions, this house was built by Sardar Asad al-Doulah (father of Mahmoud Khan) at the end of Qajar rule, and after him Mahmoud Khan stayed in it. In the past, this part of Zanjan city was a noble neighborhood, and a collection of buildings in the same style and pattern, such as the minister's house, the Khedive's house, the property mansion, etc., were built in this place.

After the Islamic revolution, the Zulfiqari mansion was in the possession of one of the revolutionary institutions for a long time and until it was registered in the list of national monuments of the country, it suffered a lot of damage due to its abandonment and lack of necessary maintenance. During the development and widening of Taleghani Street, the wall and the top of the entrance to the building were completely destroyed. In recent years, with the implementation of urban construction projects, a lot of damage has been done to the building. Among other things, with the construction of Zainbiye Street and its passage through the courtyard of the mansion, a part of the building area was destroyed and the other major part was turned into a park.In 1379, the cultural heritage of Zanjan province decided to protect and restore the Zulfiqari mansion, and in this regard, the said building was restored and renovated in several stages. With the transfer of the collection of artifacts obtained from the Cheharabad salt mine in 1386, a temporary museum of mummies was established in this place, and in 1388, the first archaeological museum of Zanjan province was opened in Zulfiqari mansion.

This building was registered in the list of national monuments of the country on 25/12/75 under number 1852.
Archaeological department of the museum:
Prehistoric section: In this section, the prehistoric objects discovered from Zanjan province from the sites of Noor Soltanieh hill from the 5th millennium BC and Khalsa Khormadreh hill from the 6th millennium BC and Saha Chai Tepe from the 4th millennium BC are kept. These objects include all kinds of plain and engraved terracotta bowls, all kinds of stone tools called microliths, bone tools, and animal figurines.

Historical section: In this section, the types of pottery vessels of the Iron Age discovered from Zanjan include types of gray and pea pottery, glazed pottery vessels of the Parthian period, types of flour storage vessels, types of war tools made of bronze, including quivers and arrows, arrow heads and simple swords. It is engraved.
Islamic section: In this section, all kinds of objects from the Islamic period, including simple and glazed pisos of the Ilkhani period, copper vessels of calligraphy, star and golden tiles exposed from the Soltanieh dome, coins of different historical periods from the Tapayan historical period of the Islamic period are kept. .

Salty men:
Mard Namaki 1: Despite the exceptional discovery of Mard Namaki 1 in 1372, unfortunately, not much effort was made to stop mechanical mining and cancel exploitation of the mine. In the fall of 2013, the miners, while working with the bulldozer, again encountered the remains of the human skeleton, which was largely disintegrated due to the work with the bulldozer. By searching the miners among the disturbed soils, in addition to collecting parts of fragmented human remains, a number of objects were obtained, which were transferred by the operator to the cultural heritage and tourism department of the province.

Preliminary investigations on the human remains, which were named Salt Man 2 after being transferred to cultural heritage, showed that these remains belonged to a middle-aged man with an average height of about 180 cm, who was killed during the collapse of the walls and roof of the tunnel. Among the objects that were found with this salt man, we can mention a piece of basket and wooden nails, plant ropes, textiles, etc.

Salt Man 2: The accidental discovery of Salt Man 2 and a collection of objects led to the resumption of archaeological research in the Cheharabad Salt Mine after 11 years. Therefore, the exploration of the mine in order to save the remaining works and remains was first under the supervision of Amir Elahi and Then, Abolfazl Aali was conducted in January and February of 2013, and the second season of exploration continued in the fall of 2014.

Salt Man 3: The remains of Salt Man 3, like Salt Man 2, were discovered by chance during the bulldozer's waste removal work by miners in 2013. Due to the discovery of the mummy by a bulldozer, this body was also found disintegrated and in pieces.
(The remains of mummy number 3 included: bones, clothes and parts of soft tissue of a person who, like other miners, was killed due to the collapse of the tunnel and the fall of a multi-ton rock on him.)

Salt Man 4: Salt Man 4 is the healthiest and most complete mummy discovered from the Chehr Abad mine. Despite the injury at the time of death, almost most of the body parts remained intact, including his bones and soft tissue, which were completely dried due to the loss of body water. When the body was discovered, it was dead. in such a way that the face and the front part of the body was placed on the ground. The hands were bent at the elbow, the left hand was on the ground and the right hand was almost in a fist position. The right leg was half open and the other leg was folded under the stomach. Although the skull was fractured in several parts, the cause of death was based on the research conducted by Dr. Shekohi with a CT scan, pressure on the chest and rupture of the heart as a result of the fall of the tunnels and the fall of dirt and debris on him.

Based on the research, it was found that this natural mummy was a young boy who was around 16 years old at the time of his death. The height of this mummy is 170 to 175 cm. Silver rings are seen on his ears. His hair is short and brown in color. Interesting objects were also discovered along with this mummified young man. One of these objects is a metal knife with a bone handle, which is tied to his cloth belt in a leather sheath. Also, plant remains, a small bead with a blue glaze, a healthy smoker, 11 pieces of pottery, etc. were also found with this body.
One of the most important features of this natural mummy is the full dress that can be seen on her. This outfit consists of a long top, a pair of pants and leather shoes.

Salt Man 5: This natural mummy was found in the excavation of the second season, except for the head and other parts of the body, which were placed under the rock and large rubble stones. The shape of the body showed that this person was also killed and buried as a result of the accidents that led to the destruction and collapse of the tunnel, unlike the salt mummy number 4, most of the body tissue of the salt man 5 had rotted and disappeared, only the soft tissue. In small parts of two hands, legs, parts of the face, chest and pelvis were left. The low amount of salt in this environment, the infiltration of water from the top of the mountain into this part of the mine is one of the main reasons for the high decay of salt man 5.

Results:
Before the excavations of the two seasons of 83 and 84 in the Cheharabad salt mine, based on the findings of 72, it was thought that the mine was the place where the Sassanid prince was killed or the representative of the Scythian ruling body in the 8th century BC. But with the excavations of the last two seasons, it was found that all the mummies discovered were mine workers and miners who were killed and buried as a result of the collapse of the mine and the collapse of the walls, roof and tunnels. According to the excavations, it was also found that the mine has been identified since the first half of the millennium.

Based on carbon 14 dating tests, it was found that Salt Man 3, 4, 5, are related to the Achaemenid period, which is about 2300 years old, and Salt Man 1, 2, are related to the Sassanid period, which are about 1500 to 1700 years ago. Therefore, according to the available evidence, the collapse of Chehar Abad mine tunnels has occurred at least twice. For the first time, around 2300 years ago, during the miners' activity, a large part of the mine tunnels collapsed and 3, 4, 5 salt men were killed in it, and then after several centuries, other accidents occurred in the salt mine and as a result Those salt men 1 and 2 are also killed and buried.

Currently, with the exception of the salt mummy number 1, which is kept in the National Museum of the country, the rest of the bodies and objects obtained from the Cheharabad mine are kept in the Zulfiqari Museum of Zanjan in favorable conditions, under the supervision of relevant experts.
Phone: 02433033426 (museum office)
Year of establishment: February 2017
Visiting hours: the first 6 months of the year from 9 to 19 and the second six months of the year from 8 to 17
Holidays: none, official holidays of the country
Ticket price: 40,000 Rials for domestic visitors and 500,000 Rials for foreign visitors