Tehran

Tehran (also transcribed Teheran) (تهران in Persian), population 9,000,000 (metropolitan: 14,000,000), and a land area of 254 square miles, the capital of Iran (Persia) and the center of Tehran Province. Tehran is located at {{coor dm|35|40|N|51|25|E|type:city(9000000)_region:IR}}. http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html

Culture

Tehran, as Iran's showcase and historical capital city, has a wealth of cultural attractions, some of which are listed below:

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Palaces

• Golestan Palace and Takht-e Marmar. (website)
• Niavaran Palace Complex (website)
• Sa'd Abad Palace
• Saltanat Abad Palace
• Firouzeh Palace, (which belongs to Tehran's Zoroastrian community)
• Soleymaniyeh Palace
• Baharestan Palace, (where Iran's first parliament was located at)
• Morvarid Palace, Karaj, designed by The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. http://www.iranian.com/Kasraie/2004/June/Design/

Museums

• Sa'd Abad Gallery of Fine Arts
• Glassware Museum of Tehran
• Iran's National Rug Gallery (website)
• Reza Abbasi Museum
• Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (website)
• Tehran Theater of the Performing Arts (Te'atr e Shahr)
• Talar Vahdat Theater
• National Museum of Iran, (website)
• Darabad Museum of Natural History

Religious centers

• Soltani Mosque, built by Fath Ali Shah
• Atiq Mosque, built in 1663.
• Mo'ezz o-dowleh mosque, built by Fath Ali Shah
• Haj Seyd Azizollah mosque, built by Fath Ali Shah
• Al-javad mosque, Iran's first modernist design mosque.
• The Old Sepahsalar mosque, another prominent Qajar era mosque.
• The new Sepahsalar mosque (Madreseh e Motahari)
• Filsuf o-dowleh Mosque, Qajar era
• Moshir ol-Saltaneh Mosque, Qajar era
• Mo'ayyer ol-Mamalik Mosque, Qajar era
• Shahr Banu Mausopleum
• Javan-mard Qassab Mausoleum, a pre-Islamic semi-mythical hero
• Dozens of Imam-zadeh shrines, hundreds of years old, including that of Imam Zadeh Saleh.
• Dozens of Saqa Khanehs: traditional places of prayer
• Several Tekyehs: traditional places for mourning Muharram ceremonies for Husayn ibn Ali.
• Ibn Babviyeh cemetery, where many Iranian giants such as Takhti and Ali Akbar Dehkhoda are buried.
• Zahir o-dowleh cemetery, where many Iranian giants of art and culture such as Iraj Mirza, Mohammad Taghi Bahar, Forough Farrokhzad, Abolhasan Saba, Ruhollah Khaleghi, and Darvish-khan are buried.
• Kordan Tomb, Seljuqi era, Karaj.
• Maydanak Tomb, 13th century, Karaj
• The Polish cemetery north of Tehran, where numerous WW2 western allied soldiers are buried.

Churches

• Surep Georg Church, 1790
• Thaddeus Bartoqimus Church, 1808
• Tatavus Church, from the Qajar era
• Enjili Church, 1867
• Assyrian Church

Castles and Forts

• Arzhang Fort, Taleqan, 1149CE
• Iraj Fort, Varamin
• Gol e Khandan Fort, Rudehen, Sassanid era
• Rashkan Fort, Ray, Parthian era
• Tabbarok Fort, Abbasid era
• Sorkheh-Hesar Fort, Seljuqi era.
• Kei-Ghobad Fort, Taleqan, Ismaili era
• Gabri Fort, Parthian era, Ray.
• Several other forts and castle ruins, such as Ghal'eh Dokhtar Tang Goseel, near Karaj. Like all the other forts of this area, these have been ruined by earthquakes. Seljuqi era.
• Harun Prison. Sassanid era. South of Tehran.
• Bagh e Melli foreign ministry compound.

Traditional Houses

Dozens of houses of antiquity with splendid traditional architectural design remain standing in Tehran today. Most are from the Qajar era. Some of these are:

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• Etehadiyeh House, Qajar era
• Amir Bahador House, Qajar era
• Emam Jomeh House, 1863CE
• Amin ol-Soltan House, Qajar era
• Shaghaghi (Kushak) House, Qajar era
• Emarat e Bagh e Ferdows, Qajar era
• Emarat Farmaniyeh, Qajar era
• Shahid Modarres House, Uladjan district.
• Vothuq House, 1837CE
• Moshir o-Dowleh Pir Nia House

However, there exist plenty of houses of historical heritage also open to the public, such as: House of Nima Yooshij, House of Mohammed Mossadegh, House of Ayatollah Taleghani, House of Ghavam o-Dowleh, House of Imam Khomeini, and House of Mahmoud Hessaby.

Related Topics:
Nima Yooshij - Mohammed Mossadegh - Ayatollah Taleghani - Imam Khomeini - Mahmoud Hessaby

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Archeological sites

An abundance of ancient archeological historicl sites exists in and around Tehran. Some of the more prominent ones are:

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• Cheshme Ali Teppe, 5th millennium BCE. Excavated by Jacques de Morgan.
• Shoghali Teppe, 6th millennium BCE.
• Qeytariyeh ancient Cemetery, 2nd millennium BCE.
• Teppe Meel, excavated by Jacques de Morgan, believed to be the temple of the legendary ancient leader Bahram Gur.
• Vavan Teppe, Sassanid era
• Ghareh Teppe, 6th millennium CE, excavated by the British Burton Brown.
• Ozbaki Teppe, Hashtgerd.

Others

• Iran National Library
• Borj-e Milad
• Darolfonoon institute of higher education
• Morvarid Canon, Afsharid dynasty era
• Shebeli Tower, Damavand, Samanid era
• Tughrul Tower, Seljuqi era
• Ala-o-dowleh Tower, Varamin, 1276CE
• Tehran's Grand Bazaar, 1523CE.
• Several Ab anbars (traditional water reservoirs) of antique age.
• Several Qanats of antiquity.
• Several Yakh-chals (traditional refrigerators) of antiquity.
• Several bridges of antiquity. Example: Pol e Rumi, located in Northern Tehran, from the Safavid era, today a property of the Embassy of Turkey.
• Several Caravanserais of antiquity.
• Several fire temples of antiquity
• Alborz High School
• Firouz Bahram High School