Reasons to Travel to Iran:  Monuments and History

The history of Iran encompasses millennia.  The civilizations came and went and left their monuments to bear witness to their grandeur and power.  The monuments were often built one on top of another as each civilization conquered and destroyed the other like waves in the ocean crashing on a beach.  

Honestly, you could stand anywhere in Iran and throw a rock and you would hit an historical monument.  In Iran there is history- 2500 years and beyond, and there is modern life- from 500 years ago to the present.  So you have the old, the really old, the really, really old, and the ancient.   

Many people think of Iran as a Moslem nation inhabited by Arabs.  Though Iran is a Moslem nation, the cultural roots go back much earlier than the Arabs who only arrived on the scene about 1400 years ago.  

The rest, as they say in Iran, is modern history.

Some Main Monuments:

Elam: 1200 B.C.

Elamite carvings on a stone in the village of Izeh, southern Iran.

Persepolis and Achaemenian Sites: 550-323 B.C.

Tomb of Cyrus the Great,  Pasargadae Carvings of Two Men, Persepolis Tomb of Xerxes, Naqsh-e-Rostam, Near Shiraz   Winged Creature, Persepolis Palace of Darius, Sunset, Persepolis

Sassanians:  3rd to 7th Century, A.D.

Sassanian King Recieves the Diadem of Power Sassanian Horses, Bishapur   Sassanian Lancers, Near Persepolis Roman emperors defeated by Shapur I

Mosques:

Isfahan, Ladies' Mosque, 17th Century Interior, Isfahan Ladies' Mosque Exterior, Yazd Jamé Mosque, 14th Century   Full Ceiling, Yazd Jamé Mosque, 14th Century Ceiling, Imam Mosque, Isfahan

Bam Citadel, Southern Iran, Largest Mud Citadel in the World
Bam Citadel through an archway.
	Entrance to Bam Citadel

Soltanieh, 14th Century
	Tile Work Panel, Inside Soltanieh
Soltanieh, Outside

And More!   Isfahan Bridge by Day Under the Bridge     Ceiling, Kashan Mosque Eram Garden, Shiraz Daniel's Tomb, Susa   Holy Shrine of Qom Lotus Flower, Anzali Marsh