The National Museum of Iran: The archaeological museum exhibits collections remarkable for its artefacts and their setting. Conceived by Andre Godard, it is arranged chronologically. An art book presents the main parts.

The Museum of Glass and Ceramics: It is one of the most beautiful in Iran. In a building of the Ghajar period, Italian museologists have made a very modern exhibitions of an exceptional quality.

The Rug Museum: It was my favourite for by didactic presentation of rugs and kilims. The collections are few but gorgeous.

The mosque of the Imam: The mosque dedicated to Imam Khomeini is the former mosque of the Shah! It dates from the 19th century. It is one of the oldest buildings in Tehran. It was built according to the standard plan of the Persian art, a vast rectangular yard surrounded by buildings with on each side an iwan covered with mosaics of arabesques.

Mausoleum: It is that of the Imam Khomeini on the main road at the capital exit. It was not completed at the time of my visit of the surroundings because the entry to the prayer room is prohibited to non-Muslims.

Qazvin: The site at a crossroads of trails which went formerly to Turkey and Baghdad, it is 125 km away from Tehran. It was founded by Shapur 1st in the 3rd century AD. From the Safavid period a Palace, Chehel Sotun is left. This two-floored building has the architecture of the Esfahan pavilions. The first floor has staff ceilings with still visible paintings. The second floor is a small museum which exhibits objects of various times excavated in the area.

Soltanieh: On the road to Tabriz, a little before Zanjan, a blue cupola shines in the afternoon light, it is Soltanieh. It was the capital of the Ilkhan Mongols. The cupola belongs to the mausoleum of Sultan Uldjaitu Khodabendeh, 1307, the only vestige after the passage of Timur's armies. Scaffoldings, show that restorations were contemplated. It is in poor state due to its age and its material, bricks.
built on octagonal plan, it is surmounted by a 52 m high elegant cupola covered with turquoise glazed bricks. Four sides are decorated with monumental gates of which some parts are still decorated with mosaics with arabesques. The plan was used as model for many buildings in Central Asia.

Kengavar: Archaeologists have excavated the vestiges of a Seleucid temple dedicated to goddess Anahita. On the temple platform, some Doric columns and a stone staircase are left in a desolated scenery.

Bisotum: The site consists of several low-reliefs, the most recent ones date back to the Parthian period. The most prestigious was carved on hillside by order of king Darius Ist in 520 BC. It commemorates his victory against magnus Gaumata. One sees Darius's foot posed on the usurper's body of the Cambyse II's throne. An inscription in three languages (Old Persian, Akkadian, Elamite) tells the victory of the "Great King, King of the Kings". Rawlinson studied the texts and deciphered by checking with the Babylonian writings in 1838.

Taq-e-Bostan: The site is on the bank of a large lake and on hillside where low-reliefs and caves were carved, actually vast open sheds.
The first low-relief is the investiture of Ardashir II (379-383) surrounded by Mazda Gods.
The first cave is devoted to the investiture of successor Shapur III (383-388) with his grandfather Shapur II, a legendary hero.
The second cave, more important, may go back either to Peroz (457-484) or to Khostan II (590-628). A panel shows the king hunting wild boars. It was to be the central iwan of a set of three, but the left iwan was never dug out.

Pol-e-Dokhtar: Name of a bridge built at the time of Shapur Ist and partially destroyed, it spans the river which we drove along.

Shush: The Susian plain in western Zagros Piedmont belongs to the world of the Iranian plateau and to the world of the Mesopotamian plain, this ambivalence made it fall over either to Persia's side or to Sumer's side. Protohistory knew this area by the pre-Elamite empire in the 4th and 3th millennium and history by the Elamite empire from 2000 to 500BC.
One needs much imagination in front of the Tell, a heap of earth made by the levelling of raw or cooked brick buildings.
The best preserved building is the castle built by the French archaeological mission in the 19th century. It is said that its function was to protect the explorers from the bandits, one needs a good justification to explain the arrogance and the cost of the building!
The rest of the site is for specialists, there are few objects to see, the most interesting are in the museums, Le Louvre or Tehran. The ground is strewn with scattered remains of columns, sculptures, capitals.

Tchoga-Zambil: An Elamite site known under the name of Dur-Untash name. It was a Holy City founded in 1250 BC in an admirable site dominating the flat rich plain. The ziggurat is the largest among those discovered in Asia. It was built out of raw bricks covered by cooked bricks. Archaeological studies have compared the Mesopotamian and Elamite buildings to show the resemblances and differences.
The present building was restored in the lower parts.

Bichâpur: The site was reached around 7 p.m. and the visit lasted one hour. Our late arrival was due to problems of gas oil supply, ... in an oil-producing region!
The visit of the site was made at nightfall. It is especially known for its low-reliefs of the Sassanian time. Shâhpuhr Ist had a palace built. The six low-reliefs are carved on the cliff of the Shâhpuhr river. They glorify Shâhpuhr Ist who vanquished the Romans.
At the top of a hill, the ruins of the old royal city were excavated by Roman Ghirsman.

Chiraz: We arrived at the hotel around 11 p.m..

Persepolis: The site is imposing. Its construction started under Darius in 518 BC and was continued by his successors. The last building was started under Artaxerxes III and never completed. Indeed the site was destroyed and burnt by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.
The restoration was undertaken as of 1887. The site is currently entirely excavated, the columns and the framing of doors and windows re-erected. All the stones were inventoried, identified and readjusted to give life to the site. Only raw or cooked brick walls between the stone facings were not rebuilt.
The site appears as we went up the monumental staircase to the terrace. It looks like a skeleton without flesh.

Naqch-e-Rostem: The site is composed of three tombs of Achaemenian kings dug in the cliff: Darius II, Darius I and Artaxerxes I and below eight low-reliefs of Sassanian time. The three tombs have the same structure. Opposite, on the esplanade, a square tower may be a Mazdean sanctuary of the sacred fire.

Naqch-e-Radjab: Three low-reliefs of the Sassanian time, two are the scenes of investiture of Ardashir Ist (224-241) and Shâhpuhr Ist (241-272) in presence of the god Ahura-Mazda and the third is an equestrian scene.

Bazaar of Shiraz: This essential visit in the old distinct allowed us to see the following buildings:

Mosque of the Regent: It was built according to the traditional plan in Iran. It is interesting especially for its earthenware decoration with the pink and green colours of the Shiraz school. The prayer room is supported by 48 twisted pillars.
Masdjed-e-Atiq: The current mosque stands on the site of a 9th century mosque. Thre is little left of it.

Saadi Mausoleum: The monument dates back to 1952. Musleh od-Din Saadi was born in Shiraz in 1189. He was a poet and a writer.
Hafez Mausoleum: The monument dates back to 1935. Shams od-Din Muhammad called Hafez was born in Shiraz about 1320. His 500-ghazal poem is the famous Divan.

Qal'a-yé Dokhtar: On the road to Firuzabad, a Sassanian castle stands with its massive structures on a rocky outcrop. It may have been built by Ardashir Ist.

Pasargadae: The site is the work of Cyrus the Great. The royal residence was built, according to the tradition, on the site of a victory, over Astyage the Mede in 550 BC. The city's name may be the corruption of Parsagad, Persian camp. The site surrounded by walls may have had tents as well as buildings. Less majestic than Persepolis, the site is splendid due to the presence of the Cyrus mausoleum, visited by Alexander the Great. The courtroom is preceded by winged bull orthostats and a trilingual inscription:
"I am Cyrus, king, the Achaemenian."also translated by " I, Cyrus, Achaemenian King"!
In front of the courtroom, gardens were set up irrigated by channels.

Abarkuh: The transverse road to Yazd runs deep in a mountain landscape with still snow-covered summits. The oasis city is located in a desert depression. Formerly, a prosperous centre on caravan routes, it is calm today around the mosque. Masdjed-e-Djomeh dates back to the 13th century, only a beautiful mihrab is left among the ruins.

Yazd: Our lodging was reached around 7 p.m. after crossing over a pass 2,520m high. The town of pisé and bricks, the colour of earth colour, is located in a lunar landscape between two deserts. Formerly prosperous on the road to Afghanistan and Pakistan, it was spared by the Mongols in the 12th century and Timur in the 14th century. It is the main town of the area with a university. The town planning of the city presents particular constructions: the wind towers. There are clever constructions to ventilate the buildings, often built over a water basin ensuring a pleasant temperature.
Masdjed-e-Dojomeh: Built in the 14th century, the access of the mosque is made by a gate with two minarets. The iwan, very high, is covered with stalactites decorated with earthenware. The cupola and the mihrab are also decorated with earthenware stalactites.
Davâzde mausoleum: The mausoleum of the twelve Imam is a Seljuk building dating back to the 11th century with a very beautiful stucco mihrab.
Bazaar: The detour by the bazaar made it possible to admire its gate.

Now Gonbad: A caravanserai set particularly well preserved.

Nain: The city in the middle of the desert was reached after three hours.
Masdjed-e-Djomeh: The Friday mosque built in the 10th century is of Abbasid type, a large court without iwan. The mihrab and especially the carved wood minbar are remarkable, without mosaic decoration. A narrow tunnel connects the mosque to an old fire temple!

Ardestân: The city seems a ruin in full desert and yet its mosque is worthy of interest for its architectural style evolution.
Masdjed-e-Djomeh: Built on the site of an old mosque, it is designed with four iwans. It was the second to adopt this standard plan in Iran.

Ispahan: The city is initially an oasis at the foot of Zagros, it receives 166 mm of water a year. A very complex system of water adduction was set up by Safavids who made their capital of it. To understand the royal city, it is necessary, as for Versailles, to imagine the manners of Abbas Shah's court, the courtiers caracoling or poloing matched the Shah in his palace surrounded by pages and courtesans.
Everything in the decorative art of palaces and gardens was made for pleasure.

Tchopoch: It was a photo stop for a typical earth village in the desert area.

Tarq: The village is dominated by a citadel in ruin.

Natanz: The city is located in a green area. It is famous for its Masdjed-e-Djomeh, whose oldest part, the kiosk-mosque, dates back to the Seljuk time. The tomb of Sheikh Abu Said, a soufi was died in 1049, is surmounted by a pyramidal roof with eight sides decorated with blue ceramics. The interior is a superb vault with muqarna.

Kachan: The city was embellished with a garden at Shah Abbas time who had his burial place built, far from being sumptuous, it is a black tomb stone in the crypt of Imâmzâdeh Habid ibn Musâ. We met other visitors, girl students dressed all in black.

Tepe Sialk: It is the oldest human settlement, as of the 5th millennium BC. The archaeological site was excavated and the objects are in Tehran and Le Louvre. Currently, it is reduced to a mud heap in the desert.

Qom: The Holy City, where Fatima, sister of Imam Reza is buried, is a major Shiite pilgrimage site. The mausoleum is in the centre of the city surmounted by a gilded dome. The access is prohibited to non-Muslims. Photography is prohibited too and the camera could be confiscated. I took a photo from the mausoleum entrance. The people were very angry and police officers wanted to see our passports. We quickly jumped on our bus!