The Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran, in the north-west of the country, consists of three monastic

ensembles of the Armenian Christian faith: St Thaddeus and St Stepanos and the Chapel of Dzordzor.

These edifices – the oldest of which, St Thaddeus, dates back to the 7th century – are examples of

outstanding universal value of the Armenian architectural and decorative traditions. They bear

testimony to very important interchanges with the other regional cultures, in particular the Byzantine,

Orthodox and Persian. Situated on the south-eastern fringe of the main zone of the Armenian cultural

space, the monasteries constituted a major centre for the dissemination of that culture in the region.

They are the last regional remains of this culture that are still in a satisfactory state of integrity and

authenticity. Furthermore, as places of pilgrimage, the monastic ensembles are living witnesses of

Armenian religious traditions through the centuries.

This ancient desert city of the southern Kerman province was registered with UNESCO in 2004.

An overview of Bam immediately gives visitors the impression of being in a life-sized sand

castle. The most recognized monument, Arg-e Bam, dates back over 2,000 years to the Parthian

Empire. This citadel was build out of khesht (sun-dried mud bricks) in the 6th to 4th centuries

B.C. and served as the governor’s quarters. Reconstruction of this landmark began after a

devastating earthquake nearly flattened this mud brick city, killing over 26,000 people in 2003.

Dates, a particularly special export of Bam, flourish especially well thanks to the vast system of

qanats (an ancient underground water system) still used today.

The area of Bisotun is one of the national monuments of Iran, and since 2006 it has been

registered as one of the Iran’s monuments on the UNESCO world heritage.

The Bisotun inscription is built at a height of several dozen yards from the ground and on a

slope south of Mount Pravo. Other remained monuments are a staircase in the upper part of

Bisotun Mountain, which is believed to have been used by stone makers to reach the site, and

after finishing the work, stained the stairs for inaccessibility of the cut. The Bisotun inscription

has been created on lime stones, which is based on the effects of brown enamel, which, after

mixing with oxidized lime, as well as lead residues found in the first few lines of the work, seems

to end up improving the longevity of the monument the whole facade is covered with unknown

material.

Meymand (also spelt Maymand and Meimand) is a village of troglodytes – cave dwellers – located in the

south-eastern Iranian province of Kerman. Meymand (Maymand, Maimand) village has been

continuously inhabited for 2,000 to 3,000 years making it one of Iran’s four oldest surviving villages.

Some claim that Meymand / Maymand village has been inhabited for 12,000 years, that is, since the

“middle stone ages”, making it a Mesolithic village. Reportedly, 10,000 year old stone engravings and

6,000 year-old pottery have been discovered at the site.

The village is a UNESCO world heritage site and was awarded UNESCO’s 2005 Melina Mercouri prize.

Meymand village is located some 35 kilometres northeast of the town of Babak – Shahr-e Babak, a

Kermani town on the road that runs between Tehran in the north and the port of Bandar Abbas in the

south. Shahr-e Babak means Babak’s city and Shahr-e Babak is said to be the birthplace of the founder of

the Persian Sassanian dynasty c.200 CE The road from Shahr-e Babak rises into the surrounding

mountains until it reaches Meymand at an elevation of 2240 metres.

Golestan Palace stands on the site of the historic Arg (citadel) of Tehran which was originally built in the

time of Shah Abbas (r. 1588-1629) of the Safavid dynasty.

The Arg became the official royal residence when Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar moved the capital of

Iran to Tehran and further palace buildings were constructed during the reign of Karim Khan Zand (r.

1750-1779). Buildings commissioned by Naser Al-din Shah (r. 1848-1896), such as the Shams-ol-

Emaneh (“Edifice of the Sun”) and the Emarat-e Badgir (“Building of the Wind Towers”) show traces of

a European architectural style and building technology that the modernising king was influenced by on

his travels.

Golestan Palace became the official residence and seat of government of the Qajar court, a time when

foreign dignitaries were invited to Golestan and compared its artistry to the royal buildings of Europe.

The palace was rebuilt in 1865 by architect Haji Ab ol Hasan Mimar Navai on the orders of Naser Al-din

Shah and most of the buildings we see today date from that period.

Yazd city was also known as Yezd which is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran.

It is located 270 km southeast of Isfahan and has an estimated population of 486,152 based on 2011 Census.

Yazd city is the driest major city in Iran, getting an average rainfall of only 60 millimetres (2.4 in) per

year. It is also the hottest north of the Persian Gulf coast and during the summer season temperatures

frequently rise above 40 °C (104 °F)

During the winter season in Yazd, Iran, the days remain mild and sunny, but in the morning the

temperature gets very cold and can sometimes fall well below 0 °C (32 °F).

Entering the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan is plunging yourself into the very depths of Iranian history,

religion and art. The mosque is the fruit of over 1200 years of continual construction, redecoration and

reinterpretation that takes the visitor from the time of the Seljuqs and the Mongols to the Timurids and

the Safavids. The mosque is not only one of the oldest still-standing mosques of Iran and the wider

Islamic world, but it is also the largest functioning mosque in Iran.

However, the Jameh mosque occupies much deeper significant space in the hearts and imagination of

Iranians. This meaning goes beyond Shiism and Islam itself, but instead envelops a cognitive and

historical panorama of the very identity of Iranians. One could argue that its layers of meaning can be

compared to the trans-historical and trans-religious meaning of the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. Religiosity,

which stands at the very center of modern Iranian history, finds its reflection in the seemingly all-

compassing sacredness of this mosque. It is believed that it already functioned as a Zoroastrian meeting

place in the time of the Sassanids. Indeed, before the coming of the Safavids and thus before the

widespread conversion to Shiism, the blueprint of the Jameh Mosque was already laid.

Naghsh-e Jahan Square (Design of the world) officially known as Imam Square, situated at the center of

Isfahan city, Iran. It is an important historical site and one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The

square is surrounded by buildings from the Safavid era.

The Imam Mosque is situated on the south side of this square. On the west side you can find Ali Qapu

Palace. Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque is situated on the eastern side of this square and the northern side

opens into the Isfahan Grand Bazaar. Today, Namaaz-e Jom’eh (the Muslim Friday prayer) is held in

this square in front of the Imam Mosque.

It was Shah Abbas the Great who made Isfahan his capital and then decreed that the square should be

extended to its present size, and lovely buildings set around it. The length of this great square, which is

actually rectangular, is 500 meters from north to south, and its width about 150 meters from east to

west. It was laid out and beautified in the reign of Shah Abbas the Great, at the beginning of the

seventeenth century.

Pasargadae, Persian Pāsārgād, first dynastic capital of the Persian Achaemenian dynasty,

situated on a plain northeast of Persepolis in southwestern Iran. According to tradition, Cyrus II

(the Great; reigned 559–c. 529 bce) chose the site because it lay near the scene of his victory

over Astyages the Mede (550). The name of the city may have been derived from that of the

chief Persian tribe, the Pasargadae, although it is possible that the original form of the name

was Parsagadeh (“Throne of Pars”). In 2004 the ruins were designated a UNESCO World

Heritage site.

Persepolis, Old Persian Parsa, modern Takht-e Jamshīd or Takht-i Jamshīd (Persian:

“Throne of Jamshīd,” Jamshīd being a character in Persian mythology), an ancient

capital of the kings of the Achaemenian dynasty of Iran (Persia), located about 30 miles (50 km)

northeast of Shīrāz in the Fars region of southwestern Iran. The site lies near the confluence of

the Pulvār (Sīvand) and Kor rivers. In 1979 the ruins were designated a UNESCO World

Heritage site.

It is associated with the Jiroft culture, an “independent Bronze Age civilization with its own architecture

and language”, intermediate between Elam to the west and the Indus Valley Civilization to the east.

Covering an area of 151 hectares, Shahr-i Sokhta was one of the world’s largest cities at the dawn of the

urban era. In the western part of the site is a vast graveyard. It contains between 25,000 to 40,000

ancient graves

The settlement appeared around 3200 BC. The city had four stages of civilization and was burnt down

three times before being abandoned in 2100 BC. The site was discovered and investigated by Aurel Stein

in the early 1900s.

The Sheikh Safi al-din Khānegāh and Shrine Ensemble in Ardabil was Built at the beginning of

the 16th century, however it was reconstructed at the end of the 18th century. It is mainly

constructed based on Islamic architecture and consists different sections regarding to Iran’s

culture: A mosque, a big main library, a hospital, a school, mausoleum and so on.

After Islam came Iran till Moghol invasion, Ardebil was the largest city in North- Western Iran.

At this period the town shattered for three centuries until the advent of the Safavid Dynasty, of

which Sheikh Safi al-Din (1252-1334) is the eponym. Sheikh Safi al-Din followed Sheikh Zāhed

e-Gilāni but after his death established his own place and developed his own way. So He

founded a khānegāh in Ardabil, which was later became his shrine.

Shah Ismail, Sheikh Safi al-Din’s successor as Sufi leader of the khanegah, became the first shah

of the Safavid Dynasty and declared the khanegah as the state religion. The Safavids dynasty

spared no expense in enriching and decorating the structure of the shrine of their ancestor with

many works of art. The shrine became a focus for pilgrims from around the world and a

religious ensemble containing outstanding works of art, ornamentation, and archaeology from

the 14th to the 18th centuries