We have already visited Tehran. This visit will be to the cities of Tabriz, Karaj, Qom and, Mashad.
The major city of northwestern Iran is Tabriz. It's primary language is Azerbaijani. Tabriz is an ancient city that was a link in the Silk Road. It is especially known for it's historic bazaar. The following scenes begin in the Bazaar. The first six images of the Bazaar are from Google Street View.
This Bazaar is an ideal place to shop for traditional Persian carpets.
Portraits of the ayatollahs are very often seen. Khomeini is on the right and Khamenei on the left.
There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.
Another historic sight in Tabriz is the Blue Mosque. This doesn't look like a Shiite mosque, which tend to be more colorful. But remember that it was the Safavid Dynasty that forcibly converted Iran from Sunni to Shiite in the Eighteenth Century, and this mosque was built before then. The first five images are from Google Street View.
The following images are of the area around the Blue Mosque.
Karaj is a city to the west of Tehran. It is known for the Suleymanieh Palace. This was a palace of the Qajar Dynasty. This was the dynasty that preceded the Pahlavi Dynasty, which was the final dynasty before the Islamic Revolution ended the monarchy in 1979. It was the Qajar Dynasty that made Tehran the capital of the country. The palace has murals of the Qajar Dynasty royal family. The following three images are from Google Street View.
Here is a look around central Karaj. The first three images are from Google Street View.
Qom is considered as a holy city of Shia Islam. Much of the life of Ayatollah Khomeini revolved around this city. The reason that the original Shia cities are in Iraq, Najaf and Kufa, is that Iran was only converted to Shia Islam, from Sunni, by the Safavid Dynasty in the Eighteenth Century. Qom is a very old city that, previous to becoming a holy city, has been a part of all of the empires that have controlled the region.
The central sight of Qom is the spectacular Shrine of Fatima Masumeh. She was the daughter of one of the Twelve Imams revered by Shiite Moslems, and the sister of his son and following Imam. The daughter of Muhammad was also named Fatima.
Here is the Fatima Masumeh Shrine. The first ten images are from Google Street View.
Also in Qom is the Imam Hasan Askari Mosque, with the "swirl" pattern dome. These three images are from Google Street View.
Another notable sight in Qom is the Mosque of Jamkaran. These four images are from Google Street View.
Mashad is the major city in the northeastern corner of Iran. Along with Qom, it is considered as a holy city of Shia Islam. It is a very old city that existed long before Islam, having been a stop on the Silk Road. The most important place in Mashad is the Shrine of Imam Reza. This includes the tomb of one of the twelve successive Imams revered by Shiite Moslems.
This is the Shrine of Imam Reza. The first seven images are from Google Street View. The fourth image looks like a model of the Dome of the Rock.
Also in Mashad is the Tomb of Nadir Shah, with a statue of him on a horse. This was a great conqueror who was like the Persian version of Napoleon or Alexander the Great. Image from Google Street View.
This is a look around the city of Mashad. This first three images are from Google Street View.
Here is more of the city of Mashad. This is the largest city in Iran after Tehran.
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