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Nader Shah Mausoleum
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Nader Shah is considered something of a historical tyrant. But here he’s a local hero for briefly returning Khorasan to the centre of a vast Central Asian empire. Nader’s horseback statue crowns his otherwise rather dour 1950s grey-granite mausoleum, w
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Sarkis Cathedral
Built between 1964 and 1970 and paid for by benefactor Markar Sarkissian, the white, twin-spired church is interesting less for its beauty than its place as the centre of Christianity in the Islamic Republic. It sits at the edge of the Armenian quarter to the south.Although most of
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Alaviyan Dome
The name is now a misnomer, as the 12th-century green dome, immortalised in a Khaqani reference, has long since been removed. The dome-less brick tower remains famous for the whirling floral stucco added in the Ilkhanid era; this ornamentation enraptured Robert Byron in Road to Oxi
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Ateshkadeh
Dating from Sassanian times, the crumbling mud bricks of the Ateshkadeh-ye Esfahan stare out over the Zayandeh River and the city from a low hill on its outskirts. The 20-minute scramble uphill is worth the effort on a clear day. Many buses (US$0.90) travel west along Sheikh Bahaei
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Anahita Temple
A chaos of rocky lumps, dressed-stones and ancient column-bases tumble down a grassy hillside in the middle of Kangavar town. That’s virtually all that remains of Kangavar’s famous 2300-year-old Anahita Temple . Marvel at the workmanship that created such perfect stone columns, a m
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Sanati Museum Of Contemporary Art
Occupying a former orphanage, this art museum is a pleasant surprise in a town that can otherwise feel a long way from modern cultural pursuits. In a Qajar-era building set around an attractive courtyard, the museum houses paintings, sculptures and stone inlays by famous local arti
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Baqcheh Juq Palace Museum
This attractive mansion was originally built for the sardar (military governor) of Qajar Shah Muzaffar al-Din (r 1896–1907). Eclectically furnished rooms with colourful, quaintly tacky fruit murals are set around a wonderfully over-the-top mirror-tiled atrium. It’s set in a walled
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Saheb A Zaman Club Zurkhaneh
Just off the north side of Amir Chakhmaq Sq is the Saheb A Zaman Club Zurkhaneh, which is worth seeing both for its Iranian brand of body building and because it’s a quite an amazing structure. The modern club is inside a cavernous ab anbar (water reservoir) built about 1580. Looki
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Borg
To fully appreciate Kalat’s natural impregnability, backtrack 3km to the Mashhad road tunnel. The cliffs here are otherwise only breached by a very narrow gully stream guarded by the fortified Borg-argavan Shah, an iconic if small, round, mud-brick tower. Just beyond this (visible
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Kelisa
Built between 1648 and 1655 with the encouragement of the Safavid rulers, Kelisa-ye Vank is the historic focal point of the Armenian Church in Iran. The church’s exterior is unexciting, but the interior is richly decorated and shows the curious mixture of styles – Islamic tiles and
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Dakhmeh
These evocative Zoroastrian Towers of Silence are set on two lonely, barren hilltops on the southern outskirts of Yazd. They haven’t been used since the 1960s. At the foot of the hills are several other disused Zoroastrian buildings, including a defunct well and a water cistern and
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Hammam
A few metres from the entrance to the Khan-e Borujerdi, this 500-year-old hammam is a superb example of an Iranian bathhouse. A recent restoration has stripped away 17 layers of plaster (look just inside the second room to see them) to reveal the original sarough, a type of plaster
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Falak
This unmissable eight-towered castle dominates the city centre from a rocky promontory. It looks especially dramatic when floodlit at night and offers extensive city views from the crenellated battlements. The entrance weaves up past sellers of tacky Lurish tourist trinkets into a
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Gonbad
At the edge of town is Gonbad-e Jabaliye, an octagonal and very old structure of unknown provenance. Some scholars date it to the 2nd century AD and think it may have been an observatory. Others say it was a tomb. Whatever its function, it is remarkable because it is constructed of
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Ardashir’s Palace
About 2km towards Firuz Abad, a signed dirt road fords the Tang Ab river to reach Ardashir’s Palace , a much grander structure built beside a wonderfully refreshing spring once Ardashir felt more secure. Given it is almost 1800 years old, its domes, high iwans and clean, stable lin
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Pigeon Towers
For centuries Esfahan relied on pigeons to supply guano as fertiliser for the city’s famous fields of watermelons. The guano was collected in almost 3000 squat, circular pigeon towers, each able to house about 14,000 birds. Today they are unused, made redundant by chemical fertilis
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Hamam
Built in the Safavid period, this courtyard is home to what was once Kerman’s most important hammam , the Hamam-e Ganj Ali Khan , now restored and transformed into a museum. Wonderful frescoes adorn the walls and wax dummies illustrate the workings of a traditional bathhouse. The r
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Madraseh va Masjed
Just south of the Iranian majlis (parliament), the Madraseh va Masjed-e Sepahsalar is arguably the most noteworthy example of Persian architecture of the Qajar period, as well as one of the largest. Built between 1878 and 1890, it is famed for its multiple minarets, high domes and
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Treasury & Tombs
The southeastern corner of the site is dominated by Darius’ Treasury , one of the earliest structures at Persepolis. Archaeologists have found stone tablets in Elamite and Akkadian detailing the wages of thousands of workers. When Alexander looted the Treasury it’s reported he need
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Imam Khomeini (Sultani) Mosque
Most impressive is this mosque founded under Fath Ali Shah in the 1820s. Two of its four iwans (barrel-vaulted halls opening onto courtyards) offer perfectly measured use of restrained coloured brickwork. There’s no such restraint in the dazzling blue tiling of the contemporary Ima
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