Isfahan

Location: Isfahan Province, 415 kms South of Tehran, 480 kms north of Shiraz

Isfahan, the Pearl of Persia

 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 travelers 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-Jaban which Shah Abbas planned to be the center 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 colorful detailed work ranking among the work’s best tile work.

The Safavid kings sat in the A’li Qapu palace ,built as a residential and ceremonial palace, overlooking the Maidan, and watched polo tournaments from its balcony. Isfahan’sQaisarrieh Bazaar, on the southern side of the Maidan, considered one of the most exotic in the Middle East, offers a rich variety of carpets, tiles and miniature paintings. The Bazaar is linked to the older commercial section of the town with the Masjid-e-jahan, dating back to at least 1,000 years a go, 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 on the palace complex is the Hasht-Behesht(Eight paradise) Palace, recently restored to its former glory.

Isfahan also boasts some of the most beautiful bridges in the would, among them the Khajou, the sio-se-Pol and shahrestan, the oldest in Isfahan , bridges. Shah Abbas moved 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 Hossein, 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 armaments, 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).