Article 7726 | Elisa Dallaglio
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Touring Iran


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I travelled to Shiraz then took a flight to Teheran with my friend, where we had friends waiting to take us to their house to spend the night. The great thing is that the flights are cheap in Teheran.

The following day we went to the National History Museum, there were so many things on display, some of them were more than 5000 years old. The museum was itself surrounded by many other museums, but we became exhausted and we were not able to visit all of them. Teheran is huge and I found it modern, well developed and busy.

 

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The next day, before getting back to Shiraz, we visited Milad Tower which is one of the highest towers on earth.

 

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The other journey we did, was from Shiraz to Isfahan, we travelled by couch and it lasted at least 6 hours, but it was worth it, because it’s a city with great energy and landscapes. For instance I liked the bird park, with all the types of birds.

Finally we visited an ancient christian church and the day after we got back to Shiraz happy with having had this last adventure.

 

There’s loads to see in Shiraz. Two examples are: Takht-e Jamshid and Naqsh-e Rustam.

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The first example is called Persepolis also and was one of the five capital cities of the Achaemenid Empire (the others were Babylon, Ecbatana, Pasargadae and Susa. It’s located 50 km circa northern than Shiraz in Iran and its construction started in 520 b.C.

 

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The second example is Naqsh-e Rustam and belongs to the Elamite Period (1000 b.C.), Achaemenid (V-IV century b.C.) and Sasanian (III century a.C.). It’s located 3km north-east from Takht-e Jamshid (Persepolis) and some of the most important things are: ArdeshirI , Xerxes and Darius Tomb, Zoroaster’s Kaaba, Darius Inscriptions, ArdeshirI and Narses Coronation, Bahram II and HurmuzII against BahramIV Battle.

 

However there are some very interesting things that I haven’t been able to visit or see so far:

• Falak-Ol-Aflak Castle (III-VII century) is one of the ancient Sasanian constructions. It’s located up a hill in Khorram Abad centre. The castle was built in the firs centuries of the Islamic Period then it had been refurbished many times. They gave it this name in Qajar Dynasty. Before it was called “Dej-E-Shapurkast”, “Dezber” and “Khurramabad”. The castle has 8 towers and some parts of it are a clay and a pre and post Islamic Period tools museum in Luristan.

• Bam is a village 2000 years old abandoned since 150 years and nearly completely destroyed by an earthquake 10 years ago.

• Suluki Temple. Khorhe (IV century b.C.) located 48 km north-east from Mahallat, next to Khorhe. Nowadays only two pillars are left, each one made of 6 sections.

• Cyrus the Great Tomb (500 b.C.) the Achaemenid King Tomb is 11 meters high and was built with stones that look like white marble, transported from a mine next to Haji Abad, the lowest floor is 12 x 13 meters and 170 cm high.

• Taq Bustan (IV century a.C.) this archeological heritage is located at the base of a mountain with the same name, north-east from Kermanshah. There are some Ardeshir II reliefs that rapresent the coronation by Ahora Mazda.

• Ganjnameh. Hamadan (V century b.C.) on the sides of a mountain, on the achaemenid kingway, there are two inscriptions in the stone. The first is Darius’ and the other one on the right is Xerxes I. They both are 20 text lines from the left to the right. They’re cuneiform and in three languages: Ancient Persian, Elamite and Babylonian.

• Ziggurat Temple. Tchoga Zanbil (XIII century b.C) a king called “outash gal” who built a holy city. The Elamite Temple Tchoga Zanbil is located on a big hill next to Dez river, a branch of Karun river, 45 km south-east from Shush. The construction has got some floors and is 50 m. high. Ziggurat Temple in Tchoga Zanbil was used up to 640 b.C. when it was destroyed by Ashurbanipal.

• Takhte Soleyman ancient and precious Iranian heritage. They’re located on a platform 20 m. higher than the surrounding area. According to archeological excavations and historical researches one of the three main Sasanian fire temples is located in this area. Takhte Soleyman is 45 km north-east Takab next to Miyan Doab. Khosro Parviz II built an othe house next to it and used it for few days in the year.

 

See and discover the cultures that are within this world we all live in.

 

See another document on this topic in my Blog post Iran and Me

 

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