Isfahan
A major central Iranian city made the Safavid capital by Shah Abbas; with its Naqsh-e Jahan Square and mosques, it is a masterpiece of Iranian architecture, known as 'half the world'.
Read in context →At a glance
- Safavid capital from
- c. 1598 CE (Shah Abbas)
- Key monument
- Naqsh-e Jahan Square
- UNESCO inscription
- 1979 (Naqsh-e Jahan)
Detail
Isfahan is one of Iran's most historic and beautiful cities, set in the center of the plateau, with ancient origins — but its golden age belongs to the Safavid era, when Shah Abbas the Great made it Iran's capital around 1598. In this period Isfahan became one of the world's most magnificent cities, with the Naqsh-e Jahan Square, the Shah (Imam) Mosque, the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, the Ali Qapu palace, and remarkable bridges such as the Si-o-se-pol — so renowned that it was said 'Isfahan is half the world' (Esfahan nesf-e jahan). The city was a center of art, Islamic-Iranian architecture, carpets, tilework, and commerce. Naqsh-e Jahan Square was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, and Isfahan remains one of Iran's foremost cultural and tourist hubs.
Related entities
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — 'Meidan Emam, Esfahan' (ref. 115)
- Encyclopaedia Iranica — 'Isfahan'
- Britannica — 'Eṣfahān'