Qazvin

A Neanderthal child tooth discovered in the Qaleh Kurd Cave, near Qazvin Iran

Shah Tahmasp I (1524–1576) made Qazvin the capital of the Safavid empire.

Peighambariyeh, burial place of four Jewish saints: Salam, Solum, al-Qiya, and Sohuli.

The city was a capital of the Persian Empire under Safavids in 1548–1598.[3] It is a provincial capital today that has been an important cultural center throughout history.

Caravanserai-i-Shah, Qazvin by Eugène Flandin.

The earliest remains of prehistoric humans have been discovered in a cave called Qaleh Kurd where archaeologists discovered a Neanderthal tooth.[4] 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 350 CE, under the name Shad Shahpur (shad can be read as 'happy'), when he built a fortification there to control regional tensions.

Qazvin has sometimes been of central importance at major moments of Iranian history. It was captured by invading Arabs (644 AD) and destroyed by Hulagu Khan (13th century). After the Ottoman capture of Tabriz, Shah Tahmasp (1524–1576) made Qazvin the capital of the Safavid empire (founded in 1501 AD), a status that Qazvin retained for half a century until Shah Abbas I moved the capital to Isfahan.[3]

In 1210 the city was damaged by the forces of Kingdom of Georgia sent by Tamar the Great, as per the retribution for destroying Georgian-controlled Ani by the Muslim forces that left 12,000 Christians dead.[5][6]

In the 19th century, Qazin flourished as a center of trade because the only all-year accessible road from the Caspian Sea to the Highland started here and with enhanced traffic on the Caspian Sea the trade volume grew. Its bazaars were enlarged.[7] In the middle of the century the Babi movement had one of its centers here and the first massacre of Babis occurred in Qazvin in 1847.[8]

Salaam'Gaah Street in Qazvin city (Photo credits goes to MKR)

In the second half of the 19th century Qazvin was one of the centers of Russian presence in northern Iran. A detachment of the Persian Cossack Brigade under Russian officers was stationed here. From 1893 this was the headquarters of the Russian Company for Road construction in Persia which connected Qazvin by roads to Tehran and Hamadan. The company built a hospital and the St. Nicolas Church.

In 1920 Qazvin was used as a base for the British Norperforce.[9] The 1921 Persian coup d'état that led to the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty was launched from Qazvin.

Qazvin has been one of the main pivots on which Persia's history has revolved and this is where its reputation as an impenetrable fortress originates. During the fall of the Safavids, Qazvin was the centre of Persians reunion for the liberation of Persian territories invaded by Ottoman, Russian, and Afghan forces in the west, north, and east, respectively. The deployed swordsmen from Qazvin not only retrieved Safavid boundaries, but also contributed to their expansion up to China (east), Nader Shah The Great, Daghestan (north) and Baghdad (west). Similarly, Qazvin hosted the base of Assassins and was the training centre of the Nehzat-e Jangal (The Jungle Movement) revolutionaries.

Qazvin became a state in 1996. On 15 July 2009 Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashed near Qazvin.[10] In Autumn 2015 portions of Qazvin were struck by a meteorite.[11]

The majority of the people of the city of Qazvin are Persians. The majority language is Persian with a Qazvini accent.[12] Azerbaijanis and Tats are the other ethnic groups of the city of Qazvin.[13] They speak Azerbaijani and Tati.[14]

Qazvin has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa).

Qazvin contains several archeological excavations. In the middle of the city lie the ruins of Meimoon Ghal'eh, one of several Sassanid edifices in the area.

Qazvin contains several buildings from the Safavid era, dating to the period in which it was capital of Persia. A well known of the surviving edifices is the Chehel sotoun, Qazvin,[15] today a museum in central Qazvin.

Entrance of Masjed al-Nabi, Qazvin, Iran.

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. They include:

• Jame' Atiq Mosque of Qazvin
• Heydarieh Mosque
• Masjed Al-Nabi (Soltani Mosque): With an area of 14000 m², this mosque is one of the most glorious mosques of antiquity, built in the Safavieh's monarchy era.
• Sanjideh Mosque: Another mosque of Qazvin dating back to pre-Islamic Iran; a former fire temple. Its present-day form is attributed to the Seljukian era.
• Panjeh Ali Mosque: A former place of worship for royal harem members in the Safavid period.
• Peighambarieh School-Mosque: Founded 1644 according to inscription.
• Peighambarieh Shrine: Where four Jewish saints who foretold the coming of Christ, are buried.[16][17][18]
• Molla Verdikhani School-Mosque: Founded in 1648.
• Salehieh Madrasa and Mosque: Founded in 1817 by Mulla Muhammad Salih Baraghani.
• Sheikhol Islam School-Mosque: Renovated in 1903.
• Eltefatieh School: Dating back to the Il-Khanid period.
• Sardar School- Mosque: Made by two brothers Hossein Khan and Hassan Khan Sardar in 1815, as a fulfillment of their promise if they came back victorious from a battle against the Russians.
• Shazdeh Hosein Shrine; a c.15C CE shrine to a c.9C CE Shiite saint.
• Aminiha Hosseiniyeh

The Qajar-era Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh.

The Russian Church of Qazvin today sits adjacent to the campus of Islamic Azad University of Qazvin.

Chehel sotoun.

Chehel sotoun.

About 100 km (62 mi) south-west of Qazvin are the tombs of two Saljuki era princes — Abu Saeed Bijar, son of Sa'd, and Abu Mansur Iltai, son of Takin — located in two separate towers known as the Kharraqan twin towers. Constructed in 1067 CE, these were the first monuments in Islamic architecture to include a non-conic two-layered dome. Both towers were severely damaged by a devastating earthquake in March 2003.

Sepah Street (خیابان سپه , pronounced "Cepah" referring to ancient Persian army and not the revolutionary guards pronounced "Sipaahe") is known as the first modern street in Iran. This street entirely is carpeted with carved gray stone and is surrounded by craftsmen gift shops (used to be bars or bygone liquorshops, called May'kadeh) and hosts historical places such as Qazvin's Ali Qapu gate, entrance of Jame' Atiq mosque and historical schools.

Qazvin has three buildings built by Russians in the late 19th/early 20th century. Among these is the current Mayor's office (former Ballet Hall) and a water reservoir. St. Nicholas church was built in 1904 by the Russian Company for Roads in Persia which had its headquarter here. The church was in use until being decommissioned in 1984 because the community of Russian emigres in Qazvin did not exist any more. The iconostasis and bell was removed to Tehran and the building handed over to the Iranian government which keeps it available to the public as a historic monument. In front of the church is a 1906 memorial to a Russian road engineer.[19]

A memorial of the many Qazvinis who died during the revolution of Iran and during the Iran–Iraq War.

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 railway station
• Qazvin Airport
• Qazvin Eastern Bus terminal
• Qazvin southwestern terminal (Takestan & Hamedan)

Qazvin is a well-known city because of its famous athletes. The city has highly focused on athletic teams along recent years. Techmash is a basketball team which entered Iranian Basketball Super League in 2013.

Mesjed Koucheek, Qazvin, in 1921; nowadays Shazdeh Hosein Shrine

• Évora, Portugal (2016)
• Baalbek, Lebanon (2015)
• Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (2011)
• Denizli, Turkey (2012)
• Shah Alam, Malaysia (2011)

• Caspians
• List of famous ab anbars of Qazvin
• Qazwini (disambiguation), a personal name meaning "from Qazwin"

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Qazvin.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Qazvin.

• Satellite Picture by Google Maps
• FallingRain Map – elevation = 1285 m (Red dots are railways)
• towers profile
• How to go to Qazvin from Tehran? (Bus, Taxi or Train)