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Kermanshah

The capital of Kermanshah Province, in an altitude of 1,630 m above sea level, Kermanshah is 525 km to the southwest of Tehran.

Being a populous city of 631,199 inhabitants, mainly Kurds, Kermanshah stands, like Hamadan, on the great highway that connected Baghdad and the West with Iranian Plateau.

First built on a site a few km from the present town, it probably dates from the 4th century AD.

Its vulnerable position has always rendered it liable to incursions, and it was in turn captured by the Arabs in 649 AD, the Buyids in the 10th century, soon after by the Seljuks. And then sacked by Mongols in the early 13th century.

Modern Kermanshah is an important agricultural and a burgeoning industrial center. In the surrounding country fruit of many kinds is grown; another local product is sugar beet. Carpet weaving and manufacture of givehs (canvas-covered shoes like the Spanish alpargata in appearance) have long been carried on in the town. Since the construction of an oil refinery on the banks of Qara Su River in 1935, motor spirit and other petroleum products have been processed there for consumption in northern and northwestern Iran.

 

Sights to See

  • Kermanshah Museum
    It is one of the historical monuments from the Qajar period. Built in 1890 AD.

 

 

Excursions around Kermanshah

  • Taq-e Bostan
    The bas-reliefs at Taq-e Bostan (Arch of the Garden), 6 km northeast of Kermanshah, are, with one exception, the only Sassanian rock carvings outside Fars province; they are also the latest of Sassanian carvings. The Sassanians carved majestic sculptures out of the living rock, mostly in their native province of Fars, designed to exalt their kings and perpetuate their fame.

 

 

  • Bisotun
    The Rock Carving and Inscriptions of Darius I at Bisotun, 32 km east of Kermanshah, in addition to which you will see the relief of a bearded reveler (probably Hercules) with a goblet of wine recently discovered near the main road. On the roadside there are Achaemenian inscriptions and relief engraved high up (100 and 40-50 m above the ground) on the Bisotun cliff, which attract the attention of tourists, travelers, and passers-by.

 

  • Temple of Anahita
    This is one of the architectural monuments of ancient Iran, with its history going back to the Parthian period (200 BC), recently unearthed at Kangavar, 90 km to the east of Kermanshah. The gathered as a result of excavations worship of Anahita-goddess of abundance and guardian of water in ancient Iran, and goddess of beauty and fecundity in some other countries-was broadly practiced during the Parthian period.

 

 

  • Taq-e Gara
    In the district of Sar-e pol-e Zahab, in the heights known as the Gate of Zagros, there is a gorge called pa Taq. Adjoining the pa Taq path, there can be seen a simple stone structure, somewhat like a grotto, which is known as Taq-e Gara.

 

  • The Anubanini Sculptures
    Two bas-relief figures of 2800 BC attributed to the Semite King Anubanini can be seen on the mountainside at a height of 35 meters, with his left foot on a prostrate prisoner while receiving two more prisoners from the Goddess Nana. Under this sculptured scene, there are the figures of six more prisoners, also carved in relief.

 

  • Chahar Taqi
    Also called Chahar Qapu, it is a square fire-temple of stone and gypsum with an area of 586.60 square meters, which belongs to the Sassanian period and is considered to be the greatest of its king in that epoch.