One hundred places to see in Iran

Iranian UNESCO World Heritage Site

Part C

Qaboos Dome Tower

North Imam Khomeini St. t Access roads: Gonbad Kavous National Park (Qaboos Park), in the north of the city Mill Gonbad, which is the tallest all-brick tower in the world, is one of the historical buildings related to the fourth century AH. This tower was built during the reign of Shams al-Ma’ali, Qaboos Ibn Vashmgir, one of the kings of Al-Ziyar. According to the brick inscription in the building which is written in Kufic script and is installed around the tower, this tower was built in 397 AH (385 AH equivalent to 375 AH Yazdgerdi) and according to the order of Qaboos Ibn Vashmgir.

Although Iranian architecture does not have different styles such as European architecture and has only one style and that is Iranian architecture, but according to the stylistic classification of Iranian architecture from the perspective of the late Pirnia, this building is one of the first buildings that borders the style. Khorasan and Razi architecture is considered and in fact, belongs to the early period of Razi architecture. The building is made entirely of brick and mortar. One of the most obvious features of Razi architecture is the use of the best quality bricks. The current location of this tower is the city of Gonbad Kavous at the time of construction Borj, a suburb of ancient Jorjan (Gorgan), was the capital of the Al-Ziyar government. The base of the dome is a building with a height of 15 meters, which is made of the same materials used in the tower and is designed as a crypt inside. Of course, today, except for a part of the arch of this crypt, all parts of its floor have been destroyed due to the many excavations of ancient treasure hunters. This base is located in the middle of an earthen mound and only two meters from its height is outside the surface of this hill and the height of the dome shaft is about 70 meters considering the height of its base, of which 18 meters of this height belongs to the shaft cover. The cone-shaped dome is made. This conical dome, which has a steep slope, has two shells; The inner dome, like the earthen domes, is made in the shape of a half-egg with ordinary bricks, and the outer shell is made of special shoe bricks (baked in red with a trail). The apex of the top of this shaft is in its eastern part and the dome shaft has the same orifice. The stem is round and one of its unique features is its triangular back.

These ten backrests, which are at equal distances from each other, start from the foot of the building and end at the bottom of the dome. On the south side of this mill is its entrance door. The entrance of this door is a semicircular arch that has been made of Mogharnas. Architectural scholars consider this arch to be one of the first examples of Mogharnas work. Two inscriptions in Kufic script, belted, decorate the body of the building, one side of which is 8 meters at the foot and the other above is under the conical dome. These inscriptions are simple and made of bricks, prominent and legible, and around them, there is a rectangular frame made of bricks, and its content is as follows: In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, His life in 397 AH, coinciding with 997 AD, he ordered its construction. There is disagreement among historians and researchers about the true use of this tower.

Some experts in this field consider this tower as a tomb and believe that the crypt inside the hill was the burial place of Qaboos, which was built according to his order and for this purpose. This group of historians cites the artificiality of the hill because in the excavations inside the hill, to the depth of the excavation, there was a brick infrastructure. Confirmation or rejection of this theory has no archaeological solution because no remains have been found in the excavations of this building.

Some historians cite the literary and scientific character of Qaboos and his dealings with the scholars of his time, especially astronomers. Qaboos ordered Kiakooshkar Gilani, one of the leading astronomers of the time, to build an observatory in the capital. Historical sources mention the construction of this observatory, but there is no report about the place of its construction. According to this group of historians, the Dome Tower is the observatory. The important thing about the use of this tower is that its willingness does not conflict with the acceptance of either of the two existing hypotheses. However, in terms of structure, the dome tower is different from many miles and the reason for its construction is still not clear. Apart from the historical discussions about the Dome Tower, what has made this monument a privilege is its perfect structure, which has made this tower one of the best engineering works in human history. This point was given to the Dome Tower in an international poll conducted among world-famous architects. The tower, which is made only of brick and has no stabilizers, is still stable during its life of more than a thousand years, even withstanding two earthquakes of more than 6 Richter. The tower has been repaired three times in its life. The last time it was overhauled in 1349 to preserve this architectural masterpiece and be safe. During the construction of this building, due to the lack of facilities and advanced technology instead of wood from Kobe and compacting the soil around the facade in a spiral And a step to the end

It has been used that after the completion of the building, the soils have been spread as hills around the building. Mill Gonbad, which was registered among the national monuments of Iran on January 6, 1961 and number 86, was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site after many years at the 36th UNESCO Conference. Spring is the best season for Is a visit.

Golestan palace

Access Roads: Tehran, 15 Khordad St., North Side of Arg Square, Golestan Palace The history of Golestan Palace dates back to the time of Shah Abbas Safavid (988 AH). In the time of Karim Khan Zand with and between 1173 to 1180 AH with the construction of the court Hey, the current grounds of the palace have been formed. In the Qajar period, this was the residence of the Qajar kings and the coronation of the Qajar and Pahlavi kings took place there. It was registered in the World Heritage List of Golestan Palace on the second Sunday of July, 2013, equal to 23 June 2013 and 14 Sha’ban 1434 AH, and in the 37th annual meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Cambodia.

The different parts of this palace are:

Shams Al-Amara: A five-storey building with a height of 35 meters that has two identical towers and was the tallest building in Tehran at the time of its construction and the first building to use metal in its structure. All the columns of the upper floors and the guardrails are made of cast iron. Before the entrance of Bagh-e Melli was built, this building was known as the symbol of Tehran.

Salam Hall: One of the rooms of Golestan Palace, which was the place of the coronation of the second Pahlavi and is currently used as a museum. Mirror Hall: One of the rooms of Golestan Palace is located above the entrance of the main building and in the west of Salam Hall.

Marble Throne Porch: The oldest building that some people attribute its construction to Karim Khan and the Qajar kings received people in Nowruz, one of the most beautiful accessories of this porch is the marble throne or Soleimani throne which is located in this porch. The construction of this porch is attributed to Karim Khan and even in the Safavid period.

Marble Throne: In 1221, Fath Ali Shah ordered the construction of a peacock throne due to the difficulty of moving it. Marble bed with 65 pieces of yellow marble from Yazd mines, which is on the shoulders of three statues of demons and six angels and eleven spiral columns. Some of the columns are under the bed and the others are on the sides of the bed, each behind the milk. On the vertical surface next to the two steps in front of the bed, the role of two dragons and on both sides of the first step, two lion statues have been carved. After the Islamic Revolution, the head of one of the angels carrying the throne was stolen.

White Palace: At the end of the reign of Nasser al-Din Shah, Shah Sultan Abdul Hamid, the Ottoman king sent some valuable furniture to the Shah of Iran because at that time almost all the royal palaces and halls were full, so Nasser al-Din Shah decided to build a new palace and Place the gifts of the Sultan in it. It is now a museum

Salim Karimkhani: This building was built in 1173 during the time of Karim Khan. There is also a small marble bed here and here Naser al-Din Shah was smoking a hookah and now the tombstone of Naser al-Din Shah is located here. Also the throne belonging to Fath Ali Shah in Is here.

Windbreak mansion and windbreak house pool: It was built by the order of Fath Ali Shah and was rebuilt during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah. Its wind towers are the only mosaic windbreaks in Iran

Ivory Hall: It is one of the buildings of Nasser al-Din Shah and in his time the gifts of the kings of foreign governments were kept. In Pahlavi times, it was the place where receptions and official parties were held at the court. Some say that this is the Hall of the Hungry in Turkish.

House Pool – Diamond Hall – Diamond Hall Due to being covered, there is always the opportunity to visit.

Burnt City

Access roads: Sokhteh city, 56 km south of Zabol and 160 km north of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan province.

It is located on the side of Zabul-Zahedan road

Burnt City is the name of the remnants of an ancient city government that was built on the alluvium of the mouth of the Helmand River to Lake Hamoon and once on the banks of that river. The period of construction of this great city with the Bronze Age is the civilization of Jiroft Qarn and Iranians lived in this city about 6000 years ago. The burned city covers an area of ​​280 hectares. The city has five main parts, including the residential part; Central sections; Industrial Zone; Monuments; And it is a cemetery that are located in a series of hills and attached to each other. According to experts, this city was founded in 3,200 BC and its people lived in four periods between 3,200 and 1,800 BC. It is called because of fire in two time periods. It is one of the rarest ancient cities in which the women of the “Burnt City” were in charge of their family finances between 3,200 and 2,750 BC, according to the findings of archaeologists in the Burnt City of 151 hectares. It is large and its remains show that the city has five residential areas located in the northeast of the burnt city, the central parts, the industrial area, monuments and cemeteries that are located in the form of consecutive and adjoining hills. Recent excavations in the burnt city have shown that due to its industrial nature and the existence of industrial workshops for making pottery and jewelry in this area, the residents of the burnt city have used the trees in nature for fuel. For the first time in the city Burnt An artificial eye belonging to 4,800 years ago was discovered, this artificial eye belonged to a woman aged 25 to 30 who was buried in one of the graves of the burnt city and the artificial eye was on her skull. The artificial eye was found. Has been implanted in the left eye of this woman and despite the passage of time, she still remains healthy. The material of this artificial eye found has not been fully determined, but it seems that it was made of natural bitumen mixed with a kind of animal fat. On this artificial eye, the smallest capillaries inside the eye are designed by gold wires with a diameter of less than half a millimeter, and the pupil of this eye is also designed in the middle, and a number of parallel lines that form almost a rhombus.

One of the most amazing finds of this ancient city is the discovery of the signs of the oldest brain surgery in it. In this regard, a skull of a twelve or thirteen year old girl was discovered that its doctors discovered 4,800 years ago. Diar underwent surgery to treat hydrocephalus (a collection of fluid in the skull) and operated on her skull, and the little girl survived long after the operation. Excavations in the burnt city have uncovered a ruler made of ebony wood. The head of Shahr-e-Sokhteh archeological group said:

This ruler is 10 cm long with an accuracy of half a millimeter and is made of ebony wood, and its discovery shows that the inhabitants of this ancient city have made great progress in the field of mathematics. The oldest backgammon board in the world, along with 60 beads, was found in Mesopotamia from the ancient tomb No. 761 in the burnt city. Archaeologists have been “over”. This backgammon is much older than the backgammon that was excavated in the royal cemetery in a 5,000-year-old tomb. They found a cup with the image of a goat and a tree on it. Unlike other artifacts from the historic site of the Burnt City, it has a purposeful repetition that shows a goat moving toward a tree. By bringing these images closer together, archaeologists were able to obtain a sample of a moving image in the form of a 20-second film. Given that no lines were found in the burnt city, the real name of the city remains unknown. Currently, less than 5% of this historic city has been excavated, and in these excavations, we have found good evidence of the lives of people five thousand years ago. Of all the animal statues found in this historical area, about 90% belong to the cow statue, which shows the belief in the blessing and fertility of this area. In their burial rites, the people of this city buried the dead in a special way with food and sometimes coins and objects, which also shows the belief of these people in life after It is death. The best time to travel is the non-hot seasons of the year.

 Meymand Shahr Babak

Access roads: 30 km of Shahrbabak road to Bandar Abbas on the left side of Meymand rock village Meymand, the city of Babak, is a rocky village with several thousand years of history, reminiscent of the days when humans sought their gods on the mountains, and the mountain was known as a symbol of strength, power, stability and will. This ancient handicraft is undoubtedly one of the first human settlements in Iran

Regarding the emergence of Meymand underground structures, two theories have been proposed: First, that the Meymand complex in the eighth and seventh centuries BC, at the same time as the Medes, who have left numerous rock architectural works in western Iran, by a group of Aryan tribes have emerged. It is also possible that the Meymand rock formations are the result of the beliefs of the seal-worshiping religion, because one of the pillars of this religion is based on the invincibility and immortality of phenomena, and this belief has led them to the sanctification of mountains. The architects and sculptors of Meymandi also follow the religion of Mehrpour and have implemented the ideas related to their religion in the architecture of their settlements. Meymand Shahr Babak probably belongs to the second and third centuries AD. During the Parthian period, nomadic tribes migrated everywhere in the southern part of Kerman. These tribes were not completely displaced during the Parthian period, and in the late Parthian and early Sassanid periods, they chose to live in pleasant climates. The existence of a place called Meymand Fortress, with more than 150 circular stone rooms with crypts for placing the dead, reinforces this theory. Considering the location of these masters, it seems that the mentioned cemetery belonged to the Sassanid era, because according to the tradition of that time, the tombs were built in a mountainous area away from the city and place of residence. In addition to the above theories and based on the petroglyphs and rock motifs in this area, with hunting scenes that indicate the life of the past inhabitants of the area,

Meymand dates back to several thousand years ago. Studies on pottery discovered in this area also show that the samples found belong to different periods, including Parthian, Sassanid, and Islamic. Meymand Shahr Babak has undergone less physical and social changes throughout history due to its defensive strength, and the most changes in it are related to recent decades. What is important and undoubtedly affects the way of recognizing Meymand is the construction of housing by removing a lot of soil without the need for bricks, bricks and mortar. Therefore, in each room, ledges in different sizes to accommodate The bed, dishes, chest, lights, etc. have been removed. In this case, a house of this style with one or more rooms is called. The unit has a common entrance and the barn and living room are located on either side of the pedestal. All dormitories are a “dormitory” structure and do not have stalls, and differ in size and number of rooms. Separate the room from the closet or cover some ledges with fabric curtains

The key is installed in the wall next to the door, the key is placed in it so that the tab is behind the door. The temperature of these rooms is about 5 degrees outside. For example, in 1383 in February, while the temperature outside was 10 degrees Celsius, inside 15 degrees, and in June 2005, while outside it was 24 degrees Celsius, the temperature inside the cages was 18 degrees Celsius. Creating a stove and, in the local language, seeing inside the rooms and burning firewood in it for many years, caused the black color of the ceiling and the body of the rooms, and setting fire and preparing food inside the rooms caused the body inside the rooms to be isolated. And make the rooms live longer. Of course, because fire has not been lit in many rooms for a long time, the soil on the ceilings is gradually 10 meters normal and / 90 to 4.2 have fallen to a height of 1%. The size of these rooms, which of course are not geometrically regular, varies, and a room with 3 largest kits does not exceed 90 square meters. Meymand Shahrbabak village has a total of 406 kits and 2560 rooms. The inhabitants of this village have special customs and Sassanid Pahlavi words are still used in their language and dialect. The 3,000-year-old village of Meymand Shahrbabak is the only historical village in the world where the traditional relations of life are still going on, and the interaction between man and nature in the second millennium AD can be seen well in it.

On Saturday, July 4, 2015, coinciding with July 4, 2015, in the 39th session of UNESCO Cultural Heritage, the file of Meymand Shahrbabak cultural landscape was examined and was registered as the 19th world monument of Iran in UNESCO by winning a majority of votes. The most important feature of this village in Turkey is the habitation of the rocky units of Meymand. In other words, life has not yet lost its meaning (Cappadocia) compared to things like the village of Cappadocia in Meymand. The inhabitants of the 3,000-year-old Dastkand (rocky) village of Meymand, which has been awarded the Mercury Prize as the seventh cultural-natural and historical landscape in the world, have special customs and traditions, and the traditional relations of life are still preserved in it in language and dialect. Sassanid Pahlavi words are still used in a way that the interaction of man and nature in the second millennium AD can be seen well in it. Spring is the best season to visit