Qazvin Tour | Qazvin Travel Guide | Qazvin Travel Tips
Written by Iran Travel Agency
Qazvin is the largest city and capital
of the Province of Qazvin in Iran with an estimated
population of 331,409 in 2005.
Qazvin (historically also rendered as Kazvin, Kasvin, Casbeen,
and Casbin in the West) is a city in Iran,
some 165 km northwest of Tehran, in Qazvin
Province. It is at an altitude of about 1800 meters above sea level,
and is a city with a cold but dry climate being south of the rugged Alborz range.
The city was the location of a former
capital of the Persian Empire and contains over 2000 architectural
and archeological sites. It is a provincial capital today that has been an
important cultural center throughout history.
Qazvin is the largest city and capital
of the Province of Qazvin in Iran with an estimated
population of 331,409 in 2005.
Qazvin (historically also rendered as Kazvin, Kasvin, Casbeen,
and Casbin in the West) is a city in Iran,
some 165 km northwest of Tehran, in Qazvin
Province. It is at an altitude of about 1800 meters above sea level,
and is a city with a cold but dry climate being south of the rugged Alborz range.
The city was the location of a former
capital of the Persian Empire and contains over 2000 architectural
and archeological sites. It is a provincial capital today that has been an
important cultural center throughout history.
Archeological findings in the Qazvin
plain reveal urban agricultural settlements for at least nine millennia. The
name “Qazvin” or “Kasbin” is derived from Cas, an ancient tribe which lived south
of the Caspian
Sea a thousand years ago. The Caspian Sea itself in fact derives its name
from the same origin. Qazvin geographically connects Tehran, Isfahan, and the Persian
Gulf to the Caspian seacoast and Asia Minor,
hence its strategic location throughout the ages.
The city today known as Qazvin is
thought to have been founded by Shapur II, King of Persia in 250 CE, under the name Shad
Shahpur, when he built a fortification there to control regional tensions.
Qazvin has sometimes been of central
importance at important moments of Iranian history. Captured by invading Arabs
(644 AD) and destroyed
by Genghis
Khan (13th century), the Safavid
monarchs made Qazvin the capital of the Safavid empire in 1548 only to have it
moved to Isfahan in 1598.
Bombed and occupied by Russian forces in
both World Wars, Qazvin is also the place from which the famous coup d’état
that led to the rise of the first Pahlavi
dynasty was launched in 1921.
Attractions
The Qajar era Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh.
The Kharaghan twin towers, built in 1067 CE, Qazvin
province.
The Russian Church of Qazvin.
Qazvin contains several archeological
excavations dating back 9000 years. There are also 23 castles from the Ismaili
Assassins nearby as well. And in the middle of the city lie the ruins of
Meimoon Ghal'eh, one of several Sassanid edifices in the area.
Qazvin contains few buildings from the
Safavid era, when it was capital of Persia. Perhaps the most famous of the
surviving edifices is the Ali Qapu mansion, today a museum in central Qazvin.
