Photos

Safavid palace of Qazvin, called Chehel sotoon(40 pillars) and a metal goat sculpture.

Qazvin is a city in Iran, some 165 km northwest of Tehran, in Qazvin Province. It is at an altitude of about 1800 meters above sea level, and is a city with a cold but dry climate being south of the rugged Alborz range.

The city was the location of a former capital of the Persian Empire and contains over 2000 architectural and archeological sites. It is a provincial capital today that has been an important cultural center throughout history.

Qazvin contains few buildings from the Safavid era, when it was capital of Persia. Perhaps the most famous of the surviving edifices is the Chehelsotoon (Kolah Farangi) mansion, today a museum in central Qazvin. The museum exhibits calligraphy and miniatures of Safavid & Qajar era.

عمارت چهلستون(كلاه فرنگي)، قزوين