| |
 Visitors will visit 3 of the 5 hisorical sites that have been registered by UNESCO as world heritage sites. These sites are:
-
Persepolis More information about Perepolis Description and pictures.
Achaemenians in 518 B.C. decided to build a great and magnificent building with ceremonial palaces at Persepolis as spring capital for the Now Rouz (Persian New Year) festivities, the time for the vernal equinox. The Achaemenians used Hagmatan (Hamedan of today), Susa (The capital of Elam), and Persepolis as their summer, winter, and spring capitals respectively. Persepolis is called (Takht-e- Jamshid) in Persian. Takht means throne and Jamshid was one of the mythical kings according to the Shah- Nameh, a masterpiece of the great epic poet Ferdowsi. More info...
- Imam Square, (Meydan-e- Naghshe Jahan)
This huge Square measures 510 meters long and 165 meters wide, with an area of more than eighty thousand square meters, twice as large as Moscow's Red Square. Shah Abbas ordered the construction of this square in 1612. Many of most interesting historical sites are clustered around this square, and it is a place you just keep coming back. Once the heart of Safavid Capital and scene of maneuvers, procession, games, and especially Polo (the original posts of which still in place at the far end of the square), the Meydan is surrounded by two-storied archades which focus on the recessed portal of the Masjed-e- Imam to the south. At the north end of the square, opposite of the Masjed, is the royal carvansaray and bazaar. At the middle if the west side is the palace of Ali Ghapoo- the seat of the then Safavid government- and facing it across the square is the private oratory of Shah Abbas, the Masjed-e- Sheikh Lotfollah.
-
Pasargad (the tomb of Cyrus The Great)
Pasargad is located about 90 Kilometers north of Persepolis, on the route between Shiraz and Isfahan. Pasargad is the first capital of the Iranian tribes and the Achaemenians empire. It is also tomb of Cyrus The Great, and the tomb of mother of Solomon according to the Islamic text. Pasargad was the political capital of Achaemenins. Under the leadership of Cyrus The Great and during the rule of Darius The Great, they established a great and wide empire. This empire was extended from the land of Scythians which was beyond Sogdiana to Ethiopia, and from Sind to Sardis. Many ancient cultured nations such as the Egyptions, the Arabs, the Greeks, the Medes, the Assyrians and the Elamites were subdued by the Achaemenians.
There are many places to see in Tehran.
|
|
Highlights of the October 2004 Tour of Iran and also more information about the Tour its self. 
