گردشگری – Page 3

Kashan

2019/11/04/0 Comments/in Isfahan, Kashan, Other /by Iran Tourism

Kashan is a city in the northern part of Isfahan province of Iran. This is a common destination for tourists due to its multiple historical sites after cities like Isfahan and Shiraz. It is a traditional city with many sites and surrounding attractive villages to discover. Kashan is divided into two parts including mountainous and desert. Kashan is cited in the neighbourhood of two of highest peaks of Karkas chain, Mount Gargash to the southwest of Kashan and Mount Ardehaal in the west of Kashan, also known as “Damavand of Kashan” and the highest peak of Ardehaal mountains, in the west side; and in the east side of the city, Kashan opens up to the central desert of Iran which the city is famous for. Kashan is also known for Maranjab Desert and Caravanserai located near the Salt Lake.

Kashan is a charming city due to its contrast between the parched immensities of the deserts and the greenery of the oasis. Archeologists discovered that this region was one of the primary centers of civilization in pre-historic ages in the Sialk Hillocks lied about 4km west of Kashan.

Kashan was also a leisure vacation spot for Safavid Kings. Fin Garden, specifically, is one of the most famous gardens of Iran. This beautiful garden with its pool and orchards was designed for Shah Abbas I as a classical Persian vision of paradise.

Traditional houses especially, Tabatabaei, Borujerdi, Ameri and Abbasi house feature an incredible architecture, tile work and stucco.

Archeological finds yielded conclusive evidence of the fact that Kashan has been the cradle of many Iranian traditional crafts. Kashan maintained its great importance as a center of traditional industries throughout all historical periods. This town, as a city associated with high-quality ceramic production in the medieval period, appears to have been a major site for the manufacture of fine wares.

Engraving

2019/10/10/2 Comments/in Architrcture , Art and Handicraft, Isfahan /by Iran Tourism

Engraving (Ghalam Zani) is the art of carving designs on various metals such as copper, brass, silver, gold and also some alloys. It’s one of the traditional handicrafts of Iran that its origin goes back to the Sogians period that lived in Caucasus around 5000 to 7000 years ago and had Aryan origins.

Resuming this art is due to the diligent attempts of Ostad Mohammad Oraizi and Ostad Mohammad Taghi Zufan during the past eighty years, which has been led to creating tens of outstanding and distinguished metal engravings on the one hand and training the new generation on the other.

The decorations are going to be performed on material which has already been shaped with hammer and anvil by another skillful artist. Metalworking masters are those who work with different sorts of metal sheets shaping them in to beautiful dishes, vases, boxes, samovars, and etc. and preparing them to be engraved.

Nowadays, due to the hard job and old getting of the masters, the preparation of the metal dishes is sometimes getting performed by machinery.

The intricate process of creating each and every piece requires extensive skill, talent, and patience extended by the artists. The artistic movement of the engraver’s hand and the harmonized blows of the hammer and engraving tool will be finally led to creating a unique job.

Different scenes from nature, animal and human shapes, flower and plant patterns, hunting grounds, etc., are some of the many aesthetic images hand-portrayed and carved on many kinds of Ghalam Zani pieces.

The enchanting Ghalam Zani handicrafts are made in the shape of decorative trays, plates, vases, pitchers, etc. This magnificent art has a long history dating back to more than several thousand years ago. Excavated Ghalam Zani artifacts belonging to the Sassanian, Saljoughi, and Safavid eras are currently displayed at various museums across the world.

Khatamkari

2019/10/06/1 Comment/in Architrcture , Art and Handicraft, Isfahan /by Iran Tourism

Khatamkari literally means decorating objects’ surfaces with small pieces like tiles and it is one of the Persian arts wherein the surface of wooden or metallic articles is decorated with pieces of wood, bone and metal cut in a variety of shapes and designs.

This art, to some extent, has existed in Iran from long ago. Inlaid articles in the Safavid era took on a special significance, as artists used this art on doors, windows, mirror frames, Qur’an boxes, pen and pen holders, lanterns and tombs.

Also, in some royal buildings, doors and various items have been inlaid. The inlaid-ornamented rooms in Sa’dabad and Marble Palace in Tehran are among masterpieces of this art.

Incorporating techniques from China and improving it with Persian know-how, this craft existed for more than 700 years and is still practiced in Shiraz and Isfahan.

How to do it

Gold, silver and etc. can be used for collector coins. These rods are first assembled into triangular beams with geometric patterns, and then these are assembled again and glued into bundles in a strict order to form a cylinder of about 70cm, whose edge shows the unity of the base of the final decoration.

These cylinders are then sheared in shorter cylinders, then compressed and dried between two wooden plates, before undergoing a final cut that makes slices of about 1 mm in thickness. The latter are then ready to be plated and glued on the support object to be decorated before being lacquered. They can be preheated to soften them, if the object is curved, so that they can perfectly marry the curves. The decorated objects are: boxes, chess or backgammon, frames, or even musical instruments.

The Khatam technique can also be applied to the famous Persian miniatures, thus creating true works of art.

Persian Pottery

2019/10/04/1 Comment/in Architrcture , Art and Handicraft, Gilan, Lorestan, Mazandaran /by Iran Tourism

Persian Pottery

Iranian pottery production presents a continuous history from the beginning of Iranian history until the present day. In Iran pottery manufacture has a long and brilliant history. Due to the special geographical position of the country, being at the crossroads of ancient civilizations and on important caravan routes, almost every part of Iran was, at times, involved in pottery making. Yet, recent excavations and archaeological research revealed that there were four major pottery-manufacturing areas in the Iranian plateau. These included the western part of the country, namely the area west of the Zagros Mountains (Lorestan), and the area south of the Caspian Sea (Gilan and Mazandaran provinces).

One of the earliest known and excavated prehistoric sites that produced pottery is Ganj Darreh Tappeh in the Kermanshah region. Another great discovery was made south of the Caspian Sea in a cave, in the so-called Kamarband, (Belt cave) near present day Behshahr.

With the invention and the introduction of the potter’s wheel, it became possible to produce better quality and symmetrically-shaped vessels; the number of pottery types made was greatly increased as well. The decoration of these objects was made with much greater care and artistic skill, and the designs used were greatly enriched and carefully selected.

In general the history of Iranian-Islamic pottery can be divided into three main periods Post-Sassanian or Early Islamic Period; Middle Islamic Period; Later Islamic Period.

In these three periods, which lasted for more than a thousand years, numerous pottery centers were established, which produced innumerable types of wares.

Currently, pottery art is popular in traditional and industrial ways in Iran, and its main centers are: Laljin, Hamedan, Meybod, Yazd, Kalporgan, Minab, Gilan, Gonabad, Shahreza and etc.

Laljin

Laljin is known as the Middle East pottery and ceramic works. 80 percent of the population of the city of Laljin is engaged in pottery and ceramic works.

Local Costume and Food of Khorasan People

2019/10/02/1 Comment/in North Khorasan, Other, Razavi Khorasan, South Khorasan /by Iran Tourism

Local Costume of Khorasaan People

In Great Khorasaan province which is divided into 3 parts, different people are living such as Turkoman, Kurd, Balouch and etc.

Balouch people are settled in southern and eastern parts of Khorasaan Razavi and wear their own costume which is decorated with needlework.

Turkoman people live in northern parts of Khorasaan Razavi. The most important part of Turkoman women’s wear is a red dress called “Chavak”. For men this long dress is called “doon” and it’s the major part of their clothing. There are two types of hats called “Boorik” with needlework and “Talpak” with long wool. In Ghouchan, Dargaz and Kalaat, Turkish and Kurdish people wear their own costume. Kurdish men’s wear are similar to the ones in Kurdistan.

In Kermanj, women wear “Shilvaar” which is a corrugated skirt with detailed fringe.

The main women’s wear in Khorasaan is “Shalite”. A layered and corrugated skirt with vest and scarf.

Finally, when we talk about Khorasaan Costume, we all remember the bust, white pants and turban which people wear during a dance called “Choub Baazi”.

Khorasaan Local Food

One of the most amazing parts of traveling to a new province is tasting its local food that can get us familiar with their taste. Great Khorasaan province has its own local food like Kome joush, Khorasaan lentils halim, saateri polo,reshteh suzmeh, ghorouto, Neyshabour oatmeal soup, tougi sardaaghi and etc.

The Iranian Famous Men (Part 2)

2019/08/18/1 Comment/in Other /by Iran Tourism

Thirty-three names of Iranian Famous Men have been registered by UNESCO so far. 5 of these glorious celebrities was introduced in the first part. 5 others introduces in this part.

6. Ferdowsi

Ferdowsi (940–1020), was a Persian poet and the author of Shahnameh (Book of Kings), which is the world’s longest epic poem created by a single poet. Ferdowsi is celebrated as the most influential figure in Persian literature and one of the greatest in the history of literature.

7. Saib Tabrizi

Saib Tabrizi also called Saib Isfahani (born in Tabriz in 1592) was a Persian poet and one of the greatest masters of a form of classical Arabic and Persian lyric poetry characterized by rhymed couplets, known as the Ghazal.

8. Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet. He was born in Neyshabur, in northeastern Iran. As a mathematician, he is most notable for his work on the classification and solution of cubic equations, where he provided geometric solutions by the intersection of conics. Khayyam also contributed to the understanding of the parallel axiom. As an astronomer, he designed the Jalali calendar, a solar calendar with a very precise 33-year intercalation cycle.

9. Jami

Jami, was a Persian poet, musician, literate and Sufi in 16^th century. He is known for his achievements as a prolific scholar and writer of mystical Sufi literature. There are more than forty useful and valuable works from Jami.

10. Nima Yooshij

Ali Esfandiari, was a contemporary Persian and Tabarian poet who started the She’r-e now (new poetry) also known as She’r-e nimaa’i trend in Iran. He is considered as the father of modern Persian poetry.

The Iranian Famous Men (Part 1)

2019/08/13/1 Comment/in Other /by Iran Tourism

Thirty-three names of Iranian Famous Men have been registered by UNESCO so far. 5 of these glorious celebrities will introduced in this part.

1- Avicenna

Ibn Sina also known as Abu Ali Sina, Pur Sina, and often known in the west as Avicenna (980 – 1037), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age, and the father of modern medicine. Avicenna is also called the most influential philosopher of the pre-modern era.

His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia which became a standard medical text at many medieval universities and remained in use as late as 1650 in 1973, Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine was reprinted in New York.

2- Saadi Shirazi

Moshrefedin Muslih known Saadi Shirazi, the great Persian poet off all time, was born in Shiraz in the 13^th century. He is recognized for the quality of his writings and for the depth of his social and moral thoughts. Saadi is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets of the classical literary tradition, earning him the nickname “Master of Speech” or “The Master” among Persian scholars. He has been quoted in the Western traditions as well. Bustan is considered one of the 100 greatest books of all time according to The Guardian.

3- Al Ghazali

Al-Ghazali was one of the most prominent and influential philosophers, theologians, jurists, and mystics of Sunni Islam. He was of Persian origin.

4- Khwaja Abdullah Ansari

Abu Ismaïl Abdullah al-Herawi al-Ansari or Abdullah Ansari of Herat (1006–1088) also known as “Sage of Herat”, was a Persian Sufi saint of Arab origin who lived in the 11th century in Herat (then Khorasan, now Herat province, Afghanistan). He was commentator of the Qur’an, traditionist, polemicist, and spiritual master, and also known for his oratory and poetic talents in Arabic and Persian.

5- Hafez Shirazi

Khwajeh Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi (born in 1326 AD) is one of the most famous poets in Iranian history. Hafez was born in Shiraz, Iran. Hafez learnt the Quran by heart at an early age. Hafez also preserved the poetry of great poets such as Saadi, Attar, Rumi and Nezami during his adolescence. The Hefez Divan contains 500 sonnets, 42 quatrains and several tales that have been completed over 50 years.

Lut Desert (Dasht-e Lut)

2019/07/30/0 Comments/in Natural Attractions /by Iran Tourism

Desert areas constitute about a quarter of Iran. The Lut desert is a desert in southeastern Iran with a length of about 900 km and a width of 300 km. The world’s tallest sand pyramid is located in this plain.

In this vast plain, traces of human habitation from the fourth millennium BC have been observed. There have been huge earthquakes in this plain in the past time.

The plain of Lut has many spectacular views in its heart. Every year, countless desert enthusiasts are eager to see these wonders in the plain of Lut. Wide sand and gravel areas with bright brown to light gray and black, wavy sandy areas, multiple polygonal zones, are some of the beauties of Lut Desert.

According to some geologists, the desert has been a shallow sea called “Tis” in the past, which has dried over time due to the warmth of the air. During 2004 to 2009, this region was recognized as the warmest surface of the Earth.

The largest population of the Lut plain has settled in the Shahdad (in the past called “Khibiz”). One of the few vegetation coverings in this area is the Gaz Shrubs located 20 km from Shahdad.

Handicrafts of Isfahan – Part 2

2019/06/04/0 Comments/in Architrcture , Art and Handicraft, Isfahan, Isfahan /by Iran Tourism

In the first part, we reviewed 5 items of Isfahan handicrafts. In the following, there are other items from Isfahan Handicrafts.

6. Moaragh

The word “Moaragh” actually means something tidy, the art of making art is the laying of colorful and valuable wood, such as ivory, oysters, and metal, to achieve the desired design.

Wood art mosaic can be one of the most beautiful and finest wood arts and crafts in Iran. The Isfahan art scene in Iran has a special place, the best and most diverse works of the world about this art to the Iranians. In fact, this art is really about making different kinds of different types of different colors and patterns.

7. Ghalamkari

Ghalamkari is derived from the Persian words ghalam (pen) and kari (craftsmanship), meaning drawing with a pen. This is a type of hand-painted or wooden block-printed cotton textile, using natural dyes. It is an old craft that has been used as a conduit for their artistic creativity by the Iranian graphic designers, since the antiquity.

8. Firoozeh Koobi

Firoozeh Koobi (Turquoise) is one of the most popular arts in Isfahan. In this art, small pieces of turquoise appear on the surface of dishes, jewelry and decorative objects. This works on copper, brass, silver and bronze surfaces.

9. Carpet Weaving

Carpets are one of the first artistic handicrafts which have been woven since ancient times in Persia. Iranian Carpets have always been famous all over the world. Almost all international tourists buy even a small Iranian carpet during their trips in Iran. During the Safavid era, Isfahan was considered one of the main centers of carpet weaving in Iran and there were a lot of workshops. Today, the city of Meyme is one of the important centers for producing handmade carpets in Isfahan province.

10. Pottery and Ceramics

Pottery is the process of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired to give them a hard, durable form. This art is considered in the city of Isfahan, as well as in the cities of Natanz and Shahreza

11. Miniature

Miniature is a kind of painting that has long existed in Iran. This type of painting can be sold as decorative panels or used in the architecture to decorate the walls.

Handicrafts of Isfahan – Part 1

2019/05/26/166 Comments/in Architrcture , Art and Handicraft, Isfahan, Isfahan /by Iran Tourism

The handicrafts of Isfahan represent the industry and art of the ancestors and displays of the taste and art of the people of Isfahan, which has been attracting domestic and foreign tourists over the years.