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Tehran, is situated on the southern slopes of the Alborz Mountains. It lies at an elevation of 1,1000 meters above the Caspian Sea level and it is the vastest and the most populous city of Iran and also ranks among the prominent cities of the world.

Park e Laleh _ Tehran

Tehran which means, “ warm slope”, was a village in the suburb of the ancient Iranian capital of Ray, and after the fall of Ray by the Mongols in 1220 A.D., its residents moved to Tehran and the foundation for it to become a city was thus laid. Little is known about Tehran before 1220 A.D.

After the gain of power by the safavid Dynasty (1502-1736), Tehran attracted the attention of Shah Tahmasb (I), (reigned 1524-76), son of Shah Ismeal, the founder of the Safavid Dynasty, who was going on a pilgrimage to Imamzadeh Hamzeh, crossing through this region. In 961/1553, he ordered the construction of walls around Tehran with 114 forts, matching the number of Suras in Quran. Length of these walls measured to 6000 paces. Shah Abbas appointed a chief magistrate for Tehran, and furthermore ordered the planting of a plane-tree grove, the site of which later became the Arg of Tehran (Tehran Citadel).
From this point on, Tehran joined the ranks of the Safavid Dynasty cities; a city with walls comprised of 114 forts and renowned gates, namely:
 

        The Shah Abdoul-Azim Gate
        The Doolab Gate
        The Shemiran Gate
        The Qazvin Gate & The Bagh_e_Melli Gate

The last of which still remains today with the decorative Gate of Bagh-e-Melli in the administrative section of the capital. Tehran remained relatively unimportant until the end of the 18th century when it was made the capital by Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the Qajar Dynasty, who was crowned here in 1795. It was expanded by his successor Fath-Ali Shah who built the Golestan Palace.

The Holy Shrine Of Shah Abdoul Azim 

Sight seeng in Great Tehran

Today, Tehran is a modern metropolis, a magnet for tourists, and hub of a great culture with its numerous museums, including the superb Archaeological Museum, with its prehistoric, historic and Islamic sections, the Abguineh Glass and the Reza Abbasi Calligraphy museums, and also the several museums housed on the Sa’ad Abad Palace grounds, (which used to be the Shah’s summer residence is now the greatest cultural complex in modern Tehran consisting of seven palace-museums), plus the State Jewels of Iran which holds one of the most fabulous collections of treasures in the world. The Iranian still identifies with the bazaar as a place that is traditional, vital and truly Persian, and Tehran boasts one of the richest and longest bazaars in Iran with six miles of covered passages. The promenades around Tehran particularly the Alborz mountains and the rivers’ attract a good number of visitors on holidays. The ski slopes of Dizin and Shemshak are the venues of skiers. Karaj lake is a site of yachting and water-skiing. Tehran is immense and displays spacious and spectacular natural beauties, high mountain terrain’s with some peaks more than 17000 feet high, many rivers and streams, as well as a modern cosmopolitan city. The first sight of Iran a visitor gets on arrival is the national monument Azadi Tower (freedom tower) which is the master gate way to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Azadi Tower is colossal without heaviness, wind filled like a sail surfing into the future, and with pyramid structure as solid as the history of Iran. Tehran has many archaeological museums, Crown Jewels, Ethnological, Carpet, Ceramic and Glass, Reza Abbasi (collection of Persian art treasures), and Sa’ad Abad (the Palace of the former Shah).

 

Please click on the pictures to see enlarge)

			Old Tehran Gate( sar dar e Bagh e Melli)
			Golestan palace, Qajar royal residence, 1780 to 1941 A.D. Decorated with mirror work and some of the priceless crown jewels put on show, side by side.
			Stone Garden( Park e Jamshidieh) & Darakeh
			Darakeh a popular mountain trail north of Tehran.

			The sea of light, 182 carat, the world's largest pink diamond. National Jewel's museum, the richest and most dazzling treasury in the world.
			Azadi (One of the most beautiful monument in the word).
			Hemmat Highway & kurdestan free way
			Park e Laleh

			Kilan, one of the most beautiful village near Tehran.
			Damavand is the highest peak on the Iranian Plateau at about 5600 meters elevation.  It is a majestic volcano near Tehran.. It makes up part of the spectacular backdrop of the capital city Tehran.
			More pictures from Tehran.

Three factors play an effective role in the climate of Tehran:
Alborz mountains, the western humid currents, and the latitude.As a matter of fact, Alborz mountains make the weather in Tehran moderate. In northern Tehran, the weather is moderate and mountainous, and in plains it is semi-arid. A major part of precipitation takes place in winter.Average annual rainfall stands at 200 millimeters.
The cold season usually begins in December, but in the mountainous regions, it begins earlier. The cold season lasts 3 or 4 months. In mid-March, the weather grows warm. In late April, the weather
begins to grow warm at a faster pace, so that in mid-May, it is rather hot.

 In the late Safavid period, upon the order of Shah Suleiman, a splendid building was erected at the site of Chenarestan-I Shah Abbassi (the Shah Abbassi Plane-Tree Grove) where Shah Sultan Hussein (reigned 1664-1722) of the Safavid Dynasty, during the final years of his reign, spent some time there and received the ambassador from Sultan Ahmad, Ottoman ruler.
The Afghan selected the city citadel as their living quarters, and as an escaping measure, they constructed a bridge over the moat of the northern side of the citadel safeguarded by a gate called Arg. This very gate later became the site of the ruins on which the Dowlat Gate was erected.
With the fall of the power into the hands of Nadir Shah (Reigned 1736-1747), the Afghans realized that they lacked the military strength to confront his forces and the danger that was impending, so they decided to ravage the city and massacre its inhabitants; that they did, and left behind numerous corps, many homeless, and a large number of ruined structures.
In the year 1643, Nadir Shah bestowed Tehran to his son, Reza Qoli Mirza, as a fief. Approximately 20 years later, Karim Khan-e Zand (reigned 1750-1779), the founder of the Zand Dynasty, in order to continue his fight against Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar (chief of the Qavanlu clan of the Qajars), captured the city and made it his military headquarters.
In 1764, he ordered the construction of a large Diwankhaneh (government headquarters building) and a harem (seraglio), with its own surrounding walls and moats, inside the compound of the Tehran citadel.
Agha Mohammad Khan, in 1200/1785, designated Tehran as his capital city, and after the elimination of all his rivals and enemies, he was formally crowned as Shah at the Tehran Citadel. From this point on and until the fall of the Qajars, Tehran carried the title of Dar-ol Khelafeh (the seat of the caliphate) bestowed upon it by Agha Mohammad Khan. He was succeeded by his nephew Fath Ali Shah (reigned 1797-1834).
During Fath Ali’s reign, Tehran gradually improved and became more developed. New buildings were erected and the population began and upward trend with speculations that Tehran’s population, in those years, was some where between 15 to 20 thousand. During the reign intervals of
Fath Ali Shah and his successor Mohammad Shah (reigned 1834-48) and until the beginning of Naser ed-Din Shah’s (reigned 1848-96) Tehran witnessed a three to four times population increase as well as ythe formation of new architectural structures including the Marmar (Marble) Ivan or Diwankhaneh va Darol Emareh (the government head quarters and the governor’s seat), for the construction of which, the major materials were acquired from the Karim Khan’s Vakil Palace in Shiraz. Other monuments from this period were: the Golestan Garden and Palace, the Qajar Palace, the Khorroji Building, the Negarestan Garden and Palace, the Soltani Mosque, and a number of other splendid and luxurious structure, which were mainly used for the accommodation of nobles, generals and foreign ambassadors.
Tehran’s truly remarkable growth coincided with the reign of Naser ed-Din Shah. The population of the city, over the course of a five-year period, increased as much as three to four times. The number of people that lived in Tehran amounted to 155,736. Tehran at that time embodied the districts of Arg. Udlajan, Chal Maydan, Sangelaj, Bazar and a number of outlying buildings around Tehran known as the out of city quarters.
An important population characteristic observed in this census was the fact that immigrants constituted 73.4 percent of the population, while a mere 26.6 percent were accounted as Tehrani borns, Azarbyjanis, Isfahanis and Kashanis formed the majority or the immigrants, respectively.

The chief architectural structures of the period were the Mohammadiyeh Palace, the Lalehzar Garden and Building, the Sepahsalar Mosque and Theological School, the Darol Fonon School (Polytechnic School), the Doshan Tapeh Palace, the Firouzeh (Turquoise) Palace, the Nezamiyeh Garden, the Horse Racing Track of Bageh-e Shah (Royal Garden), BadGir (wind Tower) Building, the parade Ground and the Cossacks Barracks, The Shams-ol Emareh Building, the portal Minerates of the Soltani Masque, the flourishing stage of Sabzeh Maydan (Greeneries Square) and its encirclement by newly built shops, in addition to many other structures erected during those days in every corner and nook of Tehran; the traces of which are still extant.
The furnishing of some of the alleys and streets of the vicinity around the citadel with gas lamps, owing to the endeavors of Haj Amir-ol Zarb, was among the period’s valuable municipal undertakings.
Until the fall of Qajars, Tehran carried the title of Dar-ol Khelafeh (the seat of the caliphate) bestowed upon it by Agha Mohammad Khan, he was succeeded by his nephew Fath Ali Shah (reigned 1797-1834). During Fath Ali’s reign, Tehran gradually improved and became more developed. New buildings were erected and the population began and upward trends with speculations that Tehran’s population, in those years, was somewhere between 15 to 20 thousand. During the reign intervals of Fath Ali Shah and his successor Mohammad Shah (reigned 1834-48) and until the beginning of Naser od-Din Shah’s (reigned 1848-96) Tehran witnessed a three to four times population increase as well as the formation of new architectural structures including the Marmar (Marble) Ivan or Diwankhaneh va Darol Emareh (the government headquarters and the governor’s seat), for the construction of which, the major materials were acquired from the Karim Khan’s Vakil Palace in Shiraz. Other monuments from this period were: the Golestan Garden and Palace, the Qajar Palace, the Khorroji Building, the Negarestan Garden and Palace, the Soltani Mosque, and a number of other splendid and luxurious structure, which were mainly used for the accommodation of nobles, generals and foreign ambassadors.

Tehran ‘s truly remarkable growth coincided with the reign of Naser od-Din Shah. The population of the city, over the course of a five-year period, increased as much as three to four times. The number of people that lived in Tehran amounted to 155,736. Tehran at that time embodied the districts of Arg. Udlajan, Chal Maydan, Sangelaj, Bazar and a number of outlying buildings around Tehran known as the out of city quarters.

An important population characteristic observed in this census was the fact that immigrants constituted 73.4 percent of the population, while a mere 26.6 percent were accounted as Tehrani borns, Azarbyjanis, Isfahanis and Kashanis formed the majority of the immigrants, respectively.
The chief architectural structures of the period were the Mohammadiyeh Palace, the Lalehzar Garden and building, the Sepahsalar Mosque and Theological School, the Darol Fonon School (polytechnic School), the Doshan Tappeh Palace, the Firouzeh (Turqiose) Palace, the Nezamiyeh Garden, the Horse Racing Track of Bageh-e Shah (Royal Garden), BadGir (wind Tower) Building, the parade Ground and the Cossacks Barracks, the Shams-ol Emareh Building, the portal Minerates of the Soltani Mosque, the flourishing stage of Sabzeh Maydan (Greeneries Square) and its encirclement by newly built shops, in addition to many other structures erected during those days in every corner and nook of Tehran; the traces of which are still extant.
The plant, which manufactured the gas lamps, later became replaced by a small electric power plant in a street called Caragh Barq. Construction of the railroad from Tehran to the Shrine of Hazrat-e Abdul Azim, extention of telegraph lines and the establishment of an imperial Bank, are all among other public service credited to the same period.
In the second half of Naser-on Din Shah’s reign, in order to manage and improve the condition of the city, the capital city police and municipality was formed, which also had the responsibility of city cleaning.
During the reign of Mozaffar ed-Din Shah (reigned 1896-1907), Tehran did not undergo any drastic development activities. But unfortunately, over the course of his successor’s reign, Mohammad Ali Shah (1907-1909) many severe damages were inflicted upon Tehran.
After the establishment of a constitutional government, Tehran has been declared, in the constitution, as the capital and the seat of the Majlis. With ratification of Baladieh law in the first Majlis, the settlement of the city was transferred to this organization.
With power shift from Qajar to Pahlavi Tehran adopted the features of a new city. The avenues of Buzarjomehri, Molavi, and etc…are among manifestations of the above period. Later other roads and modern buildings with the supervision of foreign engineers were constructed for the governmental and non-governmental entities. Some of those structures include Justice department, police headquarters, train station, ministry of finance, customs department, Tehran university, Teachers Training College, Nezam High School, Military School, Arms & Machine Gun Factory, Qaleh Morghi Airport, Doshan Tapeh Air Industries, Banks of Melli, Sepah, Keshavarzi (Agriculture), Rahni, and Kargoshaei, hospitals, Ministeries, Sa’adabad and a series of other imperial palaces, and the post office, telephone, Telegraph, Wireless, and Radio Station centers. There were also many other city military structures in addition to those of the private sector, all of which caused the expansion and population increase of Tehran. Furthermore, it was during the same year, based upon a declaration issued by the Academy of Letters, the terminology for municipality was changed from Baladieh into Shahrdari.
In the year 1302/1923, the population of Tehran amounted to 210,000 and by 1318/1639 reached the figure of 540,000, and during World War II, following the occupation of Iran by the Allied Armed Forces in 1321/1941, it increased to 880,000. This upward trend was mainly due to the first two decades of the thirteenth century’s (solar calendar) boom in the construction activities for the erection of government buildings and palaces. During 1320-1330/1941-1951, an annual average of 36,250 people was added to the population of Tehran, and according to the first general census the population of the city amounted to 1,512,000. It was from this point in time that the expansion progress of the city took gigantic dimensions; small and large satellite towns as well as new districts were developed in the south, east west of Tehran, all of which gradually became within the city limits of Tehran. The element of heavy traffic and the need for a more speedy transportation paved the way for the construction of major high ways. As a result, Tehran-Shemiran and Tehran-Ray traveling distances became an insignificant factor. At that point in time, according to the 1345/1966 census, the population of Tehran was 2,700,000, and by the following enumeration of the people living in Tehran, the number registered was 4,530,223.

From Shahrivar 1320/ September 1941, and over the course of the subsequent four decades, the shape of the city heavily altered; the city witnessed the erection of large modern public and governmental buildings, replacement of the old Sangelaj district by a vast park at the center of the city, the construction of dams equipped with water purification facilities across the Karaj and Jajrud rivers which provided the means of supplying the households with drinking water via water pipelines.

The creation of new establishments and the development of urban facilities in Tehran, due to its special status, caused the influx of immigration into this city. New parks, sports arenas, well-equipped modern hospitals, movie, theaters, museums, large hotels & restaurants, and many other structures manifested the new features added to the city.