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Kuchuk Khan Statue & Mausoleum
The central horseman statue (Shohada Sq) is Kuchuk Khan, the Jangali leader of ‘Soviet Iran’. A steady flow of well-wishers also visit his tomb (Manzariyeh St), 2km southwest of Shohoda Sq (also known as Shahrdari Sq), sheltered by a contemporary brick gazebo with intricate wooden
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Dezhe Sasal Fortress
Most accessible of the region’s castle ruins is the cute little Dezhe Sasal Fortress , which crowns a petite wooded knoll at the southern end of Lisar town, just five minutes’ walk off the main highway. Its gate arch is intact and offers sea views, though the rest of the site is fe
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Takieh Biglar Begi
The lesser known Takieh Biglar Begi houses a fairly cursory calligraphy museum, but is worth visiting for its dazzling mirror-tiled central dome-room. To find it take the lane opposite the fine Masjed-e Jameh , which has a beautiful Yazd-styled twin minaret. Then take the first all
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Gilani Cottages
Supposedly ‘typical’ thatched-roof with upper wooden balustrades are shown in many brochures, but are very rare in situ. One-such has been dismantled and moved to a traffic island in Shahid Ansari Blvd (behind a drive-in burger takeaway) and is now used as a tourist information out
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St Sarkis Church
The squat, stone-based cube of St Sarkis Church is curious if not especially beautiful, with narrow slit windows suggesting a fortified past. It supposedly dates from the 4th century, though upper brick sections were rebuilt in the 1730s. Notice carved motifs over the western door
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Baba Taher Mausoleum
Of a similar era to the BuAli Sina (Avicenna) Mausoleum but architecturally less successful is this heavily buttressed mausoleum. It looks like a failed prototype for Thunderbird 3. There’s little reason to go inside unless you enjoy Persian calligraphy, inscribed here on some gent
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Motalleb Khan Mosque
The huge Motalleb Khan Mosque is a roofless 13th-century Ilkhanid edifice of unadorned brickwork. It claims to have the world’s largest mihrab. Ask nicely and you might be shown up through passages in the super-thick walls. The entrance is hidden behind street- vendors’ stalls just
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Nahar Khoran
Forest paths offer an easy clean-air escape from Gorgan, albeit crowded with weekenders and adorned with litter. The road continues several kilometres through Ziyarat . This once-picturesque village has suffered an extensive building boom but idyllic views remain through a green cl
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Gates
Tehran Gate (Darvazeh-e-Qadim-e-Tehran) and Rah Kushk Gate are two dinky little Qajar decorative remnants of Qazvin’s once-vast city walls. The much more massive Ali Qapu was originally a 16th-century gateway to the royal precinct, a kind of forbidden inner city. Today it’s a polic
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Muze
This recently renovated museum occupies a building that once served as stables and warehouse to Safavid kings. Today it contains a fine collection from the Safavid and Qajar periods, including miniatures, glassware, lacquer work, ancient Qurans, calligraphy, ceramics, woodcarvings,
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Aminiha Hosseiniyeh
Tucked away in a walled rose garden is the well-preserved 1773 Aminiha Hosseiniyeh. It’s a private mansion that doesn’t look much from the outside, but has a splendidly gaudy wood, glass and mirror interior and a refreshingly cool, brick vaulted basement. A great place to unwind an
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Rasht Museum
While small, this museum is well presented in a 1930s house. Its mannequin displays illustrate Gilaki lifestyle, amid a selection of 3000-year-old terracotta riton drinking horns in the shape of bulls, rams and deer. Supping from such vessels supposedly endowed the drinker with the
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Caravanserai Azizolaof
The streets surrounding the Haram’s various entrances are full of tourist trinket sellers but also a selection of real markets. This run-down, century-old caravanserai contains down-market electronics stalls run by Afghans. Hurry to see this area before it’s all demolished as the H
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Poets’ Mausoleum
Shahriyar is now commemorated much more ostentatiously with the strikingly modernist Poets’ Mausoleum . Its angular interlocking concrete arches are best viewed across the reflecting pool from the south. The complex also commemorates over 400 other scholars whose tombs have been lo
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Rakhatshor
Built in 1926 but looking considerably older, the unique, unmarked Rakhatshor-Khaneh is a dome-and-column subterranean hall whose water channels were originally constructed as a public laundry-place. It’s dotted with wax washerwomen to remind you how life was before Electrolux and
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Cisterns
Qazvin has some of Iran’s best-preserved domed cisterns where water was stored underground and cooled by wind towers. Sadly getting in is rarely possible so don’t make a special trip, but if you’re passing the most impressive from outside are the Sardar cisterns and the Haji Kazem
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Bogheh
The beautiful blue-tiled dome of the tomb of local Islamic notable Sayyed Roknaddin Mohammed Qazi is visible from any elevated point in the city. Built 700 years ago, the dome is fairly impressive but the deteriorating stucco inside and other decoration remain more so. The door is
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White Palace
Built in the 1930s, this served as the Pahlavi summer residence. Most of what you see in the 5000-sq-metre, 54-room palace dates from Mohammad Reza Shah’s reign (1942–79) and little has changed since the revolution. The modern building is filled with upmarket furnishings, the highl
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Darvazeh
The Darvazeh-ye Quran , a modern and not desperately impressive structure built in 1949 to replace two earlier gateways. The gateway holds a Quran and travellers have traditionally passed underneath it before undertaking any journey. The fine original Quran, installed during the Za
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Decorative Arts Museum of Iran
The Decorative Arts Museum of Iran is in a building that once served as stables and warehouse to Safavid kings. Today it contains a fine collection from the Safavid and Qajar periods, including miniatures, glassware, lacquer work, ancient Qurans, calligraphy, ceramics, woodcarvings
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