Beautiful and pleasant as Shiraz

Shiraz, the center of Fars province, located in Zagros mountains. َA beautiful city which have been the capital of Iran three times during history. Shiraz is also known as the city of poets, because of the famous poets such as Hafez, Saadi and Forsat -od- Dowleh Shirazi.

About Shiraz

It’s said that Shiraz was built by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in 568 A.D. Also in Shahnameh, the great Iranian mythology, is written that the city was built by the third king of the world, Tahmuras, and the city has got the name of his son, Jamshid.
You can see Shiraz’s name on epigraphs from 2000 B.D which archaeologists have found in Elam. According to the epigraphs the original name of the city was “Tirazis” or “Shirazis”. During Sassanid dynasty, the city was a part of Ardeshirkhore, one of the five important areas of Firouz Abad city.
According to Cambridge university: “permanent residence in Shiraz goes back to Sassanid era and even before.”
When Estakhr, the previous capital of Fars got disturbed, Shiraz was replaced, and that was the start of flourishing of this city. Shiraz was chosen as capital by Buyids in 968 A.D but main developing and flourishing of the city started from Salghurids period, mosques, public baths, schools and etc. were built under the order of them. Shiraz didn’t disturb much during Mongols attack because of Salghurid’s policies and that helped a lot to the development of Shiraz.
Buyids and Salghurids were Shitte Muslims, but in their period, Zoroastrians didn’t have to leave in separate areas or wear different clothes and in addition to Shitte celebrations, people celebrated Nowrouz and Mehregan, Zoroastrian festivals, together.

Shiraz Gardens

Shiraz is also known as the city of gardens and wine. There are a cast majority of grape gardens in Shiraz, which have made Shiraz wine a well known international brand. Eram garden, Jahan Nama garden, Delgosha Garden and Afif Abad garden are the most well known gardens of Shiraz.

Dِelgosha Garden

The garden goes back to Sassanid dynasty and it was so flourished in Timur’s period. He was so impressed with Delgosha garden that he built a garden with this name in Samarqand.
The first pavilion in Iran was built in this garden. The koushk in the garden in built in the style of Bishapur palaces. The building includes a hall with four alcoves. Embellishments are plaster moulding with the pattern of flowers and bushes, mirrors and oil paintings.

Eram Garden

The garden goes back to Seljuks and Al –e Inju period. The garden was the residence of Qashqaii tribe during Qajar and Pahlavi periods, till it was requisitioned because of their support from Mohammad Mosaddeq.
Eram garden is one of 8 gardens in Iran which are in the list of UNESCO HERITAGE SITES.
The main building, which is now in use of Shiraz university, was built in three floors during Qajar dynasty in style of Zand architecture.

Jahan Nama Garden

Jahan Nama is the oldest garden of Shiraz, located in the north of the city. The garden goes back to Al -e Muzaffar and Al -e Inju period and the building in the middle of it was built under the order of Karim Khan Zand in 1753 A.D.

Shiraz arts festival

Shiraz arts festival, the largest cultural event of its kind in the world, held to encourage traditional Iranian arts and raise the cultural standards of Iran. It was festival of performance arts and music held in Perspolis during 1968 – 1978 years.
Shiraz arts festival was a way to link East and West art and showcase the latest artworks by artists from all over the world.
The first festival was held on September 11, 1968 and it took 10 days. Abbas Nalbandian, Arbi Avanesian, Bijan Mofid with story city, Peter Brook with the first international performance of Orghast, Jerzy Grotowski and Victor Garcia with Bread and Doll Theater and Robert Wilson with the longest theater in the world called “Mountains” were some of the artists who their art was performed in this festival.
The “Mountains” was performed in 164 hours and there was 350 seats were prepared in Perpolis.

Reference: Wikipedia
Cambridge university