Kakh-e Chehel Sotun

Built as a pleasure pavilion and reception hall, using the Achaemenid-inspired talar (columnar porch) style, this beautifully proportioned palace is entered via an elegant terrace that perfectly bridges the transition between the Persian love of gardens and interior splendour. The 20 slender, ribbed wooden pillars of the palace rise to a superb wooden ceiling with crossbeams and exquisite inlay work. Chehel Sotun means ‘40 pillars’ – the number reflected in the long pool in front of the palace.
The only surviving palace on the royal precinct that stretched between Naqsh-e Jahan (Imam) Sq and Chahar Bagh Abbasi St, this Safavid-era complex is reputed to date from 1614; an inscription uncovered in 1949, however, says it was completed in 1647 under the watch of Shah Abbas II. Either way, the palace on this site today was rebuilt after a fire in 1706.
The Great Hall (Throne Hall) is a gem, richly decorated with frescoes, miniatures and ceramics. The upper walls are dominated by historical frescoes on a grand scale, sumptuously portraying court life and some of the great battles of the Safavid era – the two middle frescoes (Nos 114 and 115) date from the Qajar period but the other four are original. From right to left, above the entrance door, the armies of Shah Ismail do battle with the Uzbeks; Nader Shah battles Sultan Mohammed (astride a white elephant) on an Indian battleground; and Shah Abbas II welcomes King Nader Khan of Turkestan with musicians and dancing girls.
On the wall opposite the door, also from right to left, Shah Abbas I presides over an ostentatious banquet; Shah Ismail battles the janissaries (infantrymen) of Sultan Selim; and Shah Tahmasp receives Humayun, the Indian prince who fled to Persia in 1543. These extraordinary works survived the 18th-century invasion by the Afghans, who whitewashed the paintings to show their disapproval of such extravagance. Other items, including Safavid forebear Safi od-Din’s hat, are kept in a small museum.
The palace’s garden, Bagh-e Chehel Sotun, is an excellent example of the classic Persian garden form and was recently added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list (Read More…). An ancient fallen pine resting on a plinth gives a sense of the great age of the garden. The polished noses of the lions on the standing water spouts at the head of the decorative pool hint at this being a favourite spot for a photograph of the garden’s perfect symmetry. Art students have set up a calico shop at the garden’s entrance selling Iran’s popular printed fabric.

(Source: lonelyplanet.com)

Overview

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The Isfahan Music Museum is the first private one of its kind in Iran. The Museum was founded by two passionate Iranian musicians of the traditional music, Mehrdad Jeihooni and Shahriar Shokrani. It was inaugurated on the 2nd of December 2015.

Achievements of the Isfahan Music Museum so far:

• In 2016, the Museum obtained the first grade on the index for technical principles and physical standards from ICOM (International Council of Museums) IRAN.
• In the same year the Museum received the title of Best Privately Organized Museum in the country from the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran.

Over 300 traditional Iranian instruments

Your English/French tour guide will walk you through the different sections of the museum. You can see the way some instruments are played and listen to the sound they make with the help of media and audio display.

live Iranian traditional music performance

Hall of national instruments

This hall contains many of the instruments from all around Iran. Here you can get information about these instruments and listen to the sound they make with the help of media and audio display.

Hall of regional instruments

This separate showroom contains local Iranian instruments from different parts of the country. The tour guides will tell you about Iranian regional music and you can listen to the different musical traditions of Iran with the help of media and audio display.

The home of Iranian traditional music

This room of the museum is dedicated to the memory of some great musicians of Isfahan. Their biographies are presented. You can get a general understanding of the lives of these famous musicians who have had important influence on Iranian music.

The instrument factory

This is an opportunity for you to learn first-hand about the manufacture of traditional Iranian instruments and see the different parts that compose them.

The home of music

At the end of the guided tour, you can witness a live musical performance. After the performance, you can try different Persian musical instruments yourself.

Café

As you arrive, you enter through the back yard area which you are faced by a lightening sigh of a café. You can sit there, order drinks to rest and relax after your tour has finished.

The gift shop

If you are looking for souvenirs, gifts and music related accessories, you have come to the right place. The gift shop offers a wide variety of musical themed gifts such as traditional music albums, musical instruments, mugs and so on.

(Source: isfahanmusicmuseum.com)

Overview

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(Mᴂsjed-e Jãme, مسجد جامع)

The Jameh complex is a veritable museum of Islamic architecture while still functioning as a busy place of worship. Showcasing the best that nine centuries of artistic and religious endeavour has achieved, from the geometric elegance of the Seljuks to the more florid refinements of the Safavid era, a visit repays time spent examining the details – a finely carved column, delicate mosaics, and perfect brickwork. Covering more than 20,000 sq metres, this is the biggest mosque in Iran. This mosque was added to UNESCO’s world heritage list in 2012 (Read More…).

Religious activity on this site is believed to date back to the Sassanid Zoroastrians, with the first sizeable mosque being built over temple foundations by the Seljuks in the 11th century. The two large domes (north and south) have survived intact from this era but the rest of the mosque was destroyed by fire in the 12th century and rebuilt in 1121. Embellishments were added throughout the centuries.

In the centre of the main courtyard, which is surrounded by four contrasting iwans (a rectangular space, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open), is an ablutions fountain designed to imitate the Kaaba at Mecca. Would-be pilgrims once used the fountain to practise the appropriate rituals prior to undertaking the hajj. The two-storey porches around the courtyard’s perimeter were constructed in the late 15th century.
The south iwan is highly elaborate, with Mongol-era stalactite mouldings, some splendid 15th-century mosaics on the side walls and two minarets. Behind it is the grand Nezam al-Molk Dome, which is flanked by Seljuk-era prayer halls.

The north iwan is noteworthy for its monumental porch with the Seljuks’ customary Kufic inscriptions and austere brick pillars in the sanctuary. Behind it (entered through a door next to the iwan) is a prayer hall featuring a forest of pillars. The bricks of each of these pillars is decorated with the craftsman’s signature trademark. At the rear of the north iwan is the exquisite Taj al-Molk Dome, widely considered to be the finest brick dome in Persia. While relatively small, it is said to be mathematically perfect, and has survived dozens of earthquakes without a blemish for more than 900 years.

The west iwan was originally built by the Seljuks but later decorated by the Safavids. The mosaics are more geometric in style here than those of the southern hall. The courtyard is topped by a maazeneh, a small raised platform with a conical roof from where the faithful used to be called to prayer.

The Room of Sultan Uljeitu (a 14th-century Shiite convert) next to the west iwan is home to one of the mosque’s greatest treasures – an exquisite stucco mihrab with dense Quranic inscriptions and floral designs. Next to this is the Timurid-era Winter Hall (Beit al-Shata), built in 1448 and lit by alabaster skylights.

(Source: lonelyplanet.com)

Overview

Explore Jameh Mosque on these Suggested Tours