8 Likes
The Sun Palace ( Kakh -e- Khorshid )
http://www.caroun.com/Countries/Asia/Iran/Khorasan/Tous/TousNaderKalat.html
It is located in the middle of a natural and elliptical fortress surrounded by "Hezar Masjed Mountains". Fortress, 36x12 km, has always been of massive military importance in history, due to its location.
Due to Iranian Mythology, inside the fortress was the gate between "Iran-zamin" and "Touran-zamin". There exists irrigation installation and many historical sites and effects:
Nader Dam
Water tanks of Khesht Village
Remains of the residence of Nader Shah in Khesht Village
Froud Castle
Remains of Naderian Military Camps in East of Kalat and Gero Village
Fencing across the mountains
Military installations in gates, such as towers, trenches, cornices
...
In addition, there are 2 principal effects in Kalat, which are in better condition than the others called "Sun Palace" (kakh Khorshid) and "Blue Dome Mosque" (Masjed Gonbad Kaboud).
The building, recently wrongly named "Sun Palace", is a brick tomb with stone covering (25 m height), built in 1740 AD, around the time of killing of Nader Shah. Its facade work was left unfinished. The site consists of the grave, cellar and a cylindrical groove tower upon the tomb. Main area of the grave is founded on an octagonal platform of 34 m diameter and a terrace is constructed on each side.
External facade is decorated with stones and images of vases, flowers, leaves and fruits in 3D form and have been painted in non-native style; probably, it is the work of Indian artists. These paintings are left unfinished, because of the unclear state of affairs after the death of Nader.
Internal area is decorated with attractive paintings on plaster and a cornice on the dome, in gold, with a verse of Quran and its date, 1740.
...
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been occupied since 4000BCE, making Iran home to the world's oldest continuous civilization.It is located in central Eurasia on two ancient trade routes. One runs North-South and connects the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, the other one goes East-West between China, India, Europe and Africa.There's a city called Isfahan at the intersection of these two routes, which at one time was the wealthiest city in the world. Isfahan was twice the capital of the Persian Empire, during the Median and then Safavid Dynasties.Interesting artifacts from pre-Islamic Persia include the cylinder of Cyrus the Great, which is the world's first written declaration of human rights. The hanging gardens of Babylon (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) and the Code of Hammurabi (a set of rules which outlast the King) are also on the list.The Persian Empire was so magnificent that returning Crusaders carried tales of its splendor and helped spark the Renaissance in Europe! Influence of the Zoroastrian teachings of equality also inspired Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Socrates.The Persian Empire was conquered by Muslim Arabs around 650CE during the Sassanid Dynasty. Initially the Zoroastrian, Christian and Jewish faiths were tolerated but by 1000CE most Persians had accepted Islam.In the sixteenth century Shi'a Islam was declared in Isfahan to be the national religion of Persia and the second golden age began. From 1500 to 1720 the Safavid Dynasty built the greatest Iranian empire since before the Islamic conquest of Persia.Because of its strategic location and oil resources, World War I found Persia in the middle of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire, Russia and the British Empire-via-India. Persia became Iran as of 1935 and was ruled by the Shah, a Persian term for "monarch."In the Islamic Revolution of 1979 Iran re-established a theocratic government under the Ayatollah Khomeini.Today the capital of Iran is the city of Tehran, and Iran is known as the world's center of Shi'a Islam.Text by Steve Smith.
