I visited Iran during Eid Al Adha holidays around 2nd week of September last year. Also known as Persia, Iran is a country rich in history and culture. The first city I visited in Iran was Tehran, its capital city which is home to roughly 14 million people.
The Golestan Palace was the official residence of the royal Qajar family and is the oldest historic monument in Tehran. The Palace is inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
After travelling about 2 hours from Doha, I finally at Tehran.
I arrived at Imam Khomeini International Airport around noon. For Malaysian tourist, a 30 day visa on arrival is available and its free! First, we paid for the insurance, then applied for the visa before waiting in line for custom check. As you may have noticed, I’m wearing a head scarf in this photo at the airport. Well, women must wear scarf or hat to cover their hair during their visit to Iran.
The international airport is 55km away from the city center. So we took a taxi to our hotel from the airport. This is the hotel we stayed for the first night in Tehran, Khayyam Hotel.
After checking in to the hotel, we explored the hotel surroundings on foot for the evening.
One of the many entrances to the Tehran Bazaar.
Well, all the shops were closed when we arrived that day. Decided to come back on another day.
The streets were quiet at night because of the Eid Al Adha holidays. And we couldn’t find any money changer. Since we didn’t change the currency at the airport, we had to change our currency at the hotel.
We had our dinner at a nearby Iranian cuisine restaurant.
On the next morning, we walked to the Golestan Palace which is not far away from the hotel.
The ticket office of the Golestan Palace. Of course, there was someone at the ticket booth but only one counter was opened that morning. This photo was taken at the other two empty counters. It opens from 9am to 4.30pm.
The admission ticket price alone is 150,000 Rial per person. For each place of interest inside the compound, you need to pay extra 100,000 Rial per person. The total ticket fees to visit everything in the palace is 950,000 Rial per person. You can pick and choose the place in the palace you want to visit.
Golestan Palace is the former royal Qajar complex in Tehran. The ‘Palace of Flower’ is a masterpiece of beautiful buildings and garden, integrating Persian crafts and architecture with Western influences.
This is the marble throne’s dais. This dais was place where Levee ceremonies and general audiences were held in front of it. It was completed in the period of Agha Mohamad Khan Qajar and his coronation ceremony was held here.
The throne of yellow marble remain at the center of the dais. The throne consists of 65 large and small pieces of marble stone.
The last ceremony held in this dais was the coronation ceremony of Rezashah Pahlavi, in 1925AD.
This covered and columned building is built as a veranda with three arcs. This building was previously a part of Karimkhan’s private quarters, which is known as Karimkhan’s Sanctum. There is also another marble throne, which is much smaller and simpler than the original marble throne.
This building seems to be built in 1725AD, but most of it was demolished when the new building of the Levee Hall was being constructed in the period of Nassereddinshah Qajar. Today only parts of it remains.
It is said that Nassereddinshah Qajar liked this place very much and often spent some time here in private and smoked hookah.
Nassereddinshah’s tombstone was placed here after several displacements.
There was also a small pond in the middle of this building that water from the Royal Aqueduct came out of its waterscape and flowed into the garden.
Next, is the Levee Hall (The Salam Hall). After his first travel to Europe and visiting museums and large galleries of European countries in 1877 AD, Nassereddinshah Qajar decided to build a museum like those of Europe in the Royal Citadel.
Therefore, he ordered the Citadel’s exit building to be demolished and other buildings constructed in its place near the Ivory Hall in the northwestern side of the Citadel, that were named the New Golestan Palace. Some of those buildings included a corridor “The Mirror Hall” and the Museum Hall. This museum’s construction began in 1878 AD and ended in 1881 AD.
Before entering the Levee Hall, all visitors must wear protective sacks over shoes.
The Mirror Hall is one of the famous halls of the Golestan Palace. This hall was devoted to the Peacock’s Throne and the Kiani (Royal) Crown.
This is Building of the Sun (Shams-ol-Emareh) which is a fusion of Persian and European architecture. It is the most outstanding monument among the Golestan Palace buildings. It consists of two identical towers. The construction began in 1865 and completed two years later.
Inside the building is decorated with some objects that were presented is former Iranian kings by Napolean.
This tall monument allowed Nassereddinshah to have the panoramic views of the entire city.
The beautiful tile works of the walls.
The Windbreaker Building was built in 1809 AD, in the period of Fathalishah Qajar. This building was completely reconstructed by orders by Nassereddinshah Qajar to become what it is at present.
In the basement of the Windbreaker building was a large summer room that was cooled by the airflow from the four wind breaking towers passing over a small pond. At present, because of excessive humidity in the building, the water flow has been stopped and the windbreakers are not being as before.
This building has two side rooms and a main hall.
Interior of the Windbreaker building.
Its main room is ornamented with the most beautiful sash windows in the whole complex of Golestan Palace.
Museum of Ethnology.
The museum is a display of Iranian culture, lifestyle and its traditional costumes.
The souvenir shop of the palace is our last stop before we left the Golestan Palace.
There is also a cafe in one of the buildings in the palace where you can have some refreshments.
There was a queue at the ticket office when we were leaving the palace. So I suggest that you come here early in the morning.
That’s all for now on Golestan Palace. Located near the palace is the Grand Bazaar of Tehran which will be on my next posting.
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