Vakil Bazaar is the main bazaar of Shiraz, Iran, located in the historical center of the city. It is thought that the market originally was established by the Buwayhids in the 11th century AD, and was completed mainly by the Atabeks of Fars, and was renamed after Karim Khan Zand only in the 18th century. The bazaar has beautiful courtyards, caravansarais, bath houses, and old shops which are deemed among the best places in Shiraz to buy all kinds of Persian rugs, spices, copper handicrafts, and antiques. Like other Middle Eastern bazaars, there are a few mosques and Imamzadehs constructed beside or behind the bazaar. Top Hotels near to Vakil Bazaar […]

Qur’an Gate is a historic gate in the north of Shiraz, Iran. It is located at the northeastern entrance of the city, on the way to Marvdasht and Isfahan, between Baba Kouhi and Chehel Maqam Mountains near Allah-O-Akbar Gorge. The Gate was first built during the reign of ‘Adud ad-Dawla. By the time of the Zand dynasty, it had sustained a lot of damage, so it was restored and a small room on top was added, in which were kept handwritten Qur’āns by Sultan Ibrahim Bin Shahrukh Gurekani. The two Qur’āns are known as Hifdah-Man. Travelers passing underneath the gates were believed to receive the blessing of the Holy Book as they […]

The Tomb of Hafez and its associated memorial hall, the Hāfezieh, are two memorial structures erected on the northern edge of Shiraz, Iran, in memory of the celebrated Persian poet Hafez. The open pavilion structures are situated in the Musalla Gardens on the north bank of a seasonal river and house the marble tomb of Hafez. The present buildings, built in 1935 and designed by the French architect and archaeologist André Godard, are at the site of previous structures, the best-known of which was built in 1773. The tomb, its gardens, and the surrounding memorials to other great figures are a focus of tourism in Shiraz. Hafez was born in […]

Shah Cheragh is a funerary monument and mosque in Shiraz, Iran, housing the tomb of the brothers Ahmad and Muhammad, sons of Mūsā al-Kādhim and brothers of ‘Alī ar-Ridhā. The two took refuge in the city during the Abbasid persecution of Shia Muslims. The site is the most important place of pilgrimage within the city of Shiraz. Ahmad came to Shiraz at the beginning of the third Islamic century (approximately 900 AD), and died there. During the rule of Atabeg Abū Sa’id Zangi (~1130s AD) of the Zengid dynasty, the chief minister to the monarch by the name of Amir Muqarrab al-din Badr al-din built the tomb chamber, the dome, as well […]

The Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, is a traditional mosque in Shiraz, Iran. It is located in the district of Gowad-e-Arabān, near Shāh Chérāgh Mosque. The mosque includes extensive colored glass in its facade and displays other traditional elements such as the Panj Kāse (“five concaved”) design. It is named in popular culture as the Pink Mosque, due to the usage of considerable pink color tiles for its interior design. The mosque was built during the Qajar era and is still in use under protection by Endowment Foundation of Nasir ol Molk. It was built from 1876 to 1888, by the order of Mirzā Hasan Ali (Nasir ol Molk), a Qajar ruler. The designers were Mohammad Hasan-e-Memār, an Iranian architect, and Mohammad Rezā […]

Eram Garden is a historic Persian garden in Shiraz, Iran.The garden and the building within it are located on the northern shore of the Khoshk River in the Fars province. Both the building and the garden were built during the middle of the thirteenth century by the Ilkhanate or a paramount chief of the Qashqai tribes of Pars. The original layout of the garden, however, with its quadripartite Persian Paradise garden structure was most likely laid in the eleventh century by the Seljuqs, and was then referred to as the “Bāq e Shāh” (“the king’s garden” in Persian) and was much less complicated or ornamental.[1] Cornelius de Bruyn, a traveler from the Netherlands, wrote a description of the gardens in […]