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One of the most important historical cities
in Iran, Isfahan was known in the Sassanian
period as Spadan or Spahan. For over three hundred
years Isfahan has been the main attraction for
travellers in Iran. Located on the banks of
Zayandeh-rud River, Isfahan is Iran’s
third largest city. The city’s history
dates back to 2,700 years ago when a Jewish
colony first settled in the area still known
as Yahuddiyeh. Isfahan’s moment of glory
came in the 17th century when the town was reconstructed
by the Safavid king Shah Abbas the Great, who
moved the Safavid capital from Qazvin to Isfahan,
to unsurpassed beauty.
Today people
still marvel at its magnificence. A tour of
Isfahan should start with Maidan-e-Naghsh-e-Jahan
which Shah Abbas planned to be the centre of
the city. The square is framed by a wall of
blind arches and surrounded by the Masjid-e-Imam
(Shah Mosque), noted as the supreme perfection
of Islamic architecture, and the Sheikh Lotfollah,
the ladies mosque, with its colourful detailed
work ranking among the world’s best tile
work. The Safavid kings sat in the Ali Qapu
Palace, built as a residential and ceremonial
palace, overlooking the Maidan, and watched
polo tournaments from its balcony. Isfahan’s
Qaisarrieh Bazaar, on the northern side of the
Maidan, considered one of the most exotic in
the Middle East, offers a rich variety of carpets,
tiles and miniature paintings.
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The Bazaar is linked to the older commercial section of the
town with the Masjid-e-Jame, dating back to at least 1000
years ago, and believed to have been built on the site of
a Zoroastrian fire temple. The Chehel-Sotun (Forty-Column)
Palace was constructed as a pleasure pavilion and audience
hall for the Safavid kings, who received and entertained foreign
dignitaries there. Another palace still left in the Royal
complex is the Hasht-Behesht Palace, Eight Paradise Palace,
recently restored to its former glory. Isfahan also boasts
some of the most beautiful bridges in the world, among them
the Khajou, the Sio-se-Pol and Shahrestan, the oldest in Isfahan,
bridges.
Shah Abbas transplanted the Armenians, a Christian minority,
from Julfa, on the northern border of Iran, and settled them
in a quarter called New Julfa. The many churches he allowed
them to build, including the Vank Cathedral, reflects the
imperial style of the period. The mother of Shah Sultan Hussein,
the last Safavid ruler, built a madrasseh and caravanserai
on the Chahar Bagh or Four Garden Avenue. The caravanserai
has been restored and transformed into the luxury Abbasi Hotel
where guests can drink tea inside a garden courtyard in a
traditional chai-khana with the full view of the Madrassah
Chahar Bagh’s magnificent yellow and turquoise dome.
A
masterpiece of Iranian art and architecture, the hotel, while
enjoying all the facilities of a modern hotel, gives you the
opportunity to see authentic Persian miniatures, paintings
and tiles, gilt ornaments, mirror, inlaid and plaster works.
Other sites not to be missed in Isfahan are the Shaking Minarets
(Minar-e-Junban) and the Sassanid Atashgah, fire temple.
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