Coordinates: 36°16′N 50°00′E / 36.267°N 50°E
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Qazvin قزوین |
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Qazvin
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| Coordinates: 36°16′N 50°00′E / 36.267°N 50°E | |
| Country |  Iran |
| Province | Qazvin |
| Elevation | 1,800 m (5,906 ft) |
| Population (2005) | |
| - Total | 1,143,200 |
| estimate | |
| Time zone | IRST (UTC+3:30) |
Qazvin (English pronunciation: /kæzˈviːn/, Persian: قزوین, IPA: [ɢæzˈviːn], also spelled as Qazwin or Ghazvin) is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran with an estimated population of 331,409 in 2005. [1]
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Qazvin (historically also rendered as Kazvin, Kasvin, Casbeen, and Casbin in the West) 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.[1] It is a provincial capital today that has been an important cultural center throughout history.
Archeological findings in the Qazvin plain reveal urban agricultural settlements for at least nine millennia. Qazvin geographically connects Tehran, Isfahan, and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian seacoast and Asia Minor, hence its strategic location throughout the ages.
The city today known as Qazvin is thought to have been founded by Shapur II, King of Persia in 250 CE, under the name Shad Shahpur, when he built a fortification there to control regional tensions.
Qazvin has sometimes been of central importance at important moments of Iranian history. Captured by invading Arabs (644 AD) and destroyed by Genghis Khan (13th century), Shah Tahmasp (1524-1576) made, for a time, Qazvin the capital of the Safavid empire (founded around 1510 AD).[1]
Bombed and occupied by Russian forces in both World Wars, Qazvin is also the place from which the famous coup d’état that led to the rise of the first Pahlavi dynasty was launched in 1921.
Qazvin contains several archeological excavations. And in the middle of the city lie the ruins of Meimoon Ghal'eh, one of several Sassanid edifices in the area.
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.
After Islam, the popularity of mystics (tasawwuf), as well as the prominence of tradition (Hadith), religious jurisprudence (fiqh), and philosophy in Qazvin, led to the emergence of many mosques and religious schools, some are:
Qazvin contains three buildings built by Russians in the late 19th/early 20th century. Among these is the current Mayor's office (former Ballet Hall), a water reservoir, and the Cantor church, where a Russian pilot is buried.
Other attractions near Qazvin are the tombs of two Saljuki era princes, Aboo Saeed Bijar, son of Sad, and Aboo Mansoor Iltai, son of Takin — located in two separate towers known as the Kharaghan twin towers. Constructed in 1067 CE, these were the first monuments in Islamic architecture to include a non-conic two-layered dome.
Unfortunately, both towers were severely damaged by a devastating earthquake in March 2003.
 The Qajar era Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh. |
 The Kharaghan twin towers, built in 1067 CE, Qazvin province. |
 The Russian Church of Qazvin today sits adjacent to the campus of Islamic Azad University of Qazvin. |
 Chehelsotoon, Qazvin |
Aside from Shahzadeh Hossein, a Shiite saint, to whom a handsome shrine has been built, there have been an abundance of scientists and mystics who lived in Qazvin, or came from Qazvin, whose tombs are scattered throughout the cities and villages of the province. Some of these are:
Abbas Baloo: He was the first shahid of Qazvin. He was a brave man.
Qazvin today is a center of textile trade, including cotton, silk and velvet, in addition to leather. It is on the railroad line and the highway between Tehran and Tabriz. Qazvin has one of the largest power plants feeding electricity into Iran's national power grid, the Shahid Raja'i facility, which provides 7% of Iran's electrical power.
Qazvin has four institutes of higher education:
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KAZVIN, a province and town of Persia. The province is situated N.W. of Teheran and S. of Gilan. On the W. it is bounded by Khamseh. It pays a yearly revenue of about £ 22,000, and contains many rich villages which produce much grain and fruit, great quantities of the latter being dried and exported.
Kazvin, the capital of the province, is situated at an elevation of 4165 ft., in 36° 15' N. and 50 E., and 92 m. by road from Teheran. The city is said to have been founded in the 4th century by the Sassanian king Shapur II (309-379). It has been repeatedly damaged by earthquakes. Many of its streets and most of the magnificent buildings seen there by Chardin in 1674 and other travellers during the 17th century are in ruins. The most remarkable remains are the palace of the Safawid shahs and the mosque with its large blue dome. In the r6th century Shah Tahrasp I. (1524-1576) made Kazvin his capital, and it remained so till Shah Abbas I. (1587-1629) transferred the seat of government to Isfahan. The town still bears the title Dar es Salteneh, "the seat of government." Kazvin has many baths and cisterns fed by underground canals. The system of irrigation formerly carried on by these canals rendered the plain of Kazvin one of the most fertile regions in Persia; now most of the canals are choked up. The city has a population of about 50,000 and a thriving transit trade, particularly since 1899 when the carriage road between Resht and Teheran with Kazvin as a half-way stage was opened under the auspices of the Russian "Enzeli-Teheran Road Company." Great quantities of rice, fish and silk are brought to it from Gilan for distribution in Persia and export to Turkey.
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