Kashan County

Kashan territory

From north to Qom , from east to Aran va Bidgol and desert and Salt lake , from south to Isfahan from west to Ghamsar and Karkas Mountains.

Kashan Tourist Centers

Kashan has many tourist locations. Fin Garden in west of kashan and in end of Amir kabir road (fin road) is an old and beautiful garden from 300 years ago. this garden has a museum and a bath. In museum you can find many ancient tools from 3000 years ago. Amir Kabir the prime minister of naseradin shah killed in 200 years ago in this bath. ancient Tepe Sialk (or Sialk hill) ziggurat is in Amir kabir road and tourists can visit from this ancient hill that belong to 3500 years ago. ancient Houses is locataed in Soltan Mir Ahmad neighborhood in Alavi Street. in this neighborhood you can find many ancient houses from 300 years ago. Desert in east of city is a beautiful place for persons that like desert and salt lake. for going to Maranjab Kavir and salt lake beach you can go to Aran va bidgol town and then continue to salt lake beach and Maranjab Inn. Karkas mountains is located in behind of Fin Garden and Tehran-Isfahan Highway.

Kashan Souvenirs

The most important kashan Souvenirs are cotton candy and Pancake and Sesame and Rosewater.

Kashan Historical City

The etymology of the city name comes from Kasian, the original inhabitants of the city, whose remains are found at Tapeh Sialk dating back 9,000 years; later this changed to Kashian, hence the town name. Between the 12th and the 14th centuries Kashan was an important centre for the production of high quality pottery and tiles. In modern Persian, the word for a tile (kashi) comes from the name of the town.

History

Archeological discoveries in the Sialk Hillocks which lie 4 km west of Kashan reveal that this region was one of the primary centers of civilization in pre-historic ages. Hence Kashan dates back to the Elamite period of Iran. The Sialk ziggurat still stands today in the suburbs of Kashan after 7,000 years.

The artifacts uncovered at Sialk reside in the Louvre in Paris and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Iran's National Museum.

By some accounts although not all Kashan was the origin of the three wise men who followed the star that guided them to Bethlehem to witness the nativity of Jesus, as recounted in the Bible. Whatever the historical validity of this story, the attribution of Kashan as their original home testifies to the city's prestige at the time the story was set down.

Abu-Lu'lu'ah/Pirouz Nahāvandi, the Persian soldier who was enslaved by the Islamic conquerors and eventually assassinated the caliph Umar al-Khattab in AH 23 (643/4 CE), reportedly fled to Kashan after the assassination and lived there some years before being finally caught and executed. His tomb is one of Kashan's conspicuous landmarks (see gallery below).

Sultan Malik Shah I of the Seljuk dynasty ordered the building of a fortress in the middle of Kashan in the 11th century. The fortress walls, called Ghal'eh Jalali still stand today in central Kashan.

Kashan was also a leisure vacation spot for Safavi Kings. Bagh-e Fin (Fin Garden), specifically, is one of the most famous gardens of Iran. This beautiful garden with its pool and orchards was designed for Shah Abbas I as a classical Persian vision of paradise. The original Safavid buildings have been substantially replaced and rebuilt by the Qajar dynasty although the layout of trees and marble basins is close to the original. The garden itself however, was first founded 7000 years ago alongside the Cheshmeh-ye-Soleiman. The garden is also notorious as the site of the murder of Mirza Taghi Khan known as Amir Kabir, chancellor of Nasser-al-Din Shah, Iran's King in 1852.

The earthquake of 1778 leveled the city of Kashan and all the edifices of Shah Abbas Safavi, leaving 8000 casualties. But the city started afresh and has today become a focal tourist attraction via the numerous large houses from the 18th and 19th centuries, illustrating the finest examples of Qajari aesthetics.

Today

Although there are many sites in Kashan of potential interest to tourists, the city remains largely undeveloped in this sector, with fewer than a thousand foreign tourists per year. Qamsar and Abyaneh are notable towns around Kashan, which attract tourists all year around. The nearby town of Niasar features a man-made cave and fireplace of historical interest.

Kashan is internationally famous for manufacturing carpets, silk and other textiles. Kashan today houses most of Iran's mechanized carpet-weaving factories, and has an active marble and copper mining industry. Kashan and suburbs have a population of 400,000.

Ghaleh Jalali is not located in the centre of kashan as the text indicates. It is located on the edge of souther margin of the old wall of the city. As a matter of fact the southern part of the wall and the Ghaleh ( the citadel ) join up and forms just one piece. Out of wall areas used to be simply irrigated farm lands, but today is sporadically residential.

Main sights

Kashan's architectural sights include:

Education

Colleges and universities in Kashan include:

Roads

Kashan is connected via freeways to Isfahan and Natanz to the South, and Qom, which is an hour drive away to the north.

Famous Kashanis

Sister cities