Kermanshah

Overview

Gateway  to the  sweltering cities  of the  Iraqi  plains, Kermanshah  developed in  the  4th century AD under the patronage of Sassanian kings and squats astride the former Royal Road  to Baghdad , such  strategic positioning has  brought both  prosperity

Bakhtaran in the 1980s, the city is a melting pot of Kurds, Lori and other Iranians, many on pilgrimage west to the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala. Though not a yet a major tourist  draw,  the  backdrop of glowing  red-rock mountains is impressive enough and Taq- e- Bustan stands as  one  of the  most  peculiar monuments in all of Iran. Kermanshah is bewilderingly vast.  The main street changes names (Kashani- Modarres-Beheshti-Sheikh Shiroodi) as it stretches over 10km from the busy commercial centre in the foot of the magnificent rocky Parom mountain massif.

Here   the   Taq-e   Bustan carvings, ringed by parks and   outdoor restaurants, form the city’s foremost attraction.

SIGHTS

Taq-e Bustan    MUSEUM, HISTORIC SITE

Tucked   into a towering cliff are inscribed. Some   extraordinary Sassanian bas reliefs set in and around a pair of carved alcoves. Originally the   site   of an earlier Parthian royal hunting garden, the Sassanians added their own regal stamp. The biggest alcove features elephant-backed hunting scenes on the side walls and highlights the coronation  of Khosrow II (r AD 590–628) beneath which  the  king  rides  of in full armour and chain  mail   resembling  the   Black   Prince (albeit half  a millennium before  European knights had  ‘invented’  such  armour). The second niche shows kings Shapur III and his Roman-stomping grandfather Shapur II. To the right of the niches is a fine tableau again showing Shah Shapur II (r AD379–383) trampling over the defeated Roman   Emperor Julian the   Apostate (who he’d beaten in AD 363).  Shapur II receives a crown of blessing from Zoroastrian god remain popular late into the evening. Even after the reliefs-complex closes, sympathetic lighting means that a golden glow emanates warmly from the alcoves, making the reliefs attractively half-visible through trees across a boating pond.

Ghar Parau – North of Kermanshah ( Highest cave )

Paraw cave or Ghar Parau is located in 3050 meter above sea level which is the highest cave in the world and well known as Everest of world caves. This cave has 751 meter depth and with D5 degree of difficulty recognized as one of hardest caves to caving. The British caving team which discovered the cave named their group Ghar Parau foundation.

Jujar Cave – North of Kermanshah (Deepest Cave of Asia)

Jujar is the deepest cave in Asia. In 7 September 2015 Jujar cave in eastern front of the Paraw recognized as deepest cave of Iran. An Iranian caving team consist of 24 athlete has discovered 806 meter and 8 centimeter of this cave. Before this event Paraw cave (also located in this mount) was deepest cave of Iran. In August 2016 an international expedition started to discover whole of the cave. Eventually they announced that they successfully achieved to more than 1000 meter depth of the cave. Thus Jujar became deepest cave of Asia and Iran.

Bisotun                       

Awesome dry cliffs line the north flank of the busy, partly industrialized Kermanshah-Hamadan road, looking especially majestic when approaching Bisotun from Sahneh.

At Bisotun the cliffs are inscribed with a series   of world-famous basrelief   carvings   dating from    521   BC.  They   were awarded Unesco recognition in 2006.  The key feature is a well-preserved Darius receiving chained supplicants while a farohar (winged Zoroastrian ‘angel’ denoting purity) hovers   overhead. Though hard  to make  out  from  ground level,  the  scene  is surrounded by  cuneiform inscriptions ex- pounding upon Darius’  greatness in  three ‘lost’   languages  (Elamite,  Akkadian  and Old Persian).In   1835, eccentric British army officer Henry Rawlinson bemused locals by dangling for months over the abyss to make papier-mâché casts of these texts.  It’s hard to know how his superiors gave him the time off to attempt so life-threatening an eccentricity. The cuneiform scripts, a thrilling break- through that renders Bisotun as significant to Persia-philes as the Rosetta stone is to Egyptologists.

Other Sights

• Takieh Mo’aven ol-Molk

The Takieh Mo’aven ol-Molk is Iran’s finest Hosseinieh, a dis-tinctively Shiite shrine where plays are acted out during the Islamic month of Moharram to commemorate the martyr-dom in 680 of Imam Hossein at Karbala. Enter downstairs, through a courtyard and a domed central chamber decorated with grisly scenes from the Karbala battle.
The shrine remains very much active, with pilgrims kissing the doors and being genuinely moved by the footprint of Ali (Hossein’s father) on the wall of the second courtyard. This is set amid tiles depict-ing a wild gamut of images, from Quran-ic scenes to pre-Islamic motifs including Shahnameh kings, European villages and local notables in 19th-century costumes.
The building to the right is now an eth-nographic museum displaying regional costumes.

• Biglar Beigi Tekyeh

The Biglar Beigi Tekyeh Hosseinieh is worth visiting for its dazzling mirror-tiled central dome room. It also houses a fairly cursory calligraphy museum. Go down the lane opposite the fine Masjed-e Jameh, then take the first alley left

• Covered Bazaar

The extensive, much-restored covered bazaar slopes up from Modarres St. With a couple of dilapidated old cara-vanserai courtyards at the western end, it’s well worth exploring.