Tehran
Also known as the People's House, the country's legislative body occupies a compound that is defined by the modern pyramid-shaped debating chamber where the 290 elected members sit. It's all strictly off-limits, with security cameras and signs warning against exterior photography; you can get a reasonable view of the building when exiting the metro station.
Facing onto Baharestan Sq itself is the original building used for the Majlis from 1906 to 1979.
1.1 MILES
The glories and excesses of the Qajar rulers are played out across this complex of grand buildings decorated with beautifully painted tiles and set around…
8.4 MILES
Sprawling across the foothills of Darband, this estate was a summer home to royals since the Qajar dynasty, although it was the Pahlavis who expanded it…
1.24 MILES
The maze of bustling alleys and the bazaris (shopkeepers) that fill them make this a fascinating, if somewhat daunting, place to explore. Despite being…
0.79 MILES
Owned by the Central Bank and accessed through its front doors, the cavernous vault that houses what is commonly known as the ‘Jewels Museum’ is not to be…
Niyavaran Cultural-Historic Complex
8.61 MILES
In the Alborz foothills is the palace where Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family spent most of the last 10 years of royal rule. It’s set in 5…
4.29 MILES
This epic-scale museum, on a landscaped site of 21 hectares, is dedicated to the Iran–Iraq War, a bloody eight-year conflict that claimed a million lives…
5.43 MILES
The inverted-Y-shaped Azadi Tower, built in 1971 to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the first Persian empire, is one of Tehran's visual icons…
1.07 MILES
Next door to the National Museum, and part of the same complex, this museum offers a stunning collection of arts and antiquities from throughout the…
1. Madraseh va Masjed-e Sepahsalar
0.17 MILES
Just south of the Iranian majlis (parliament), this Islamic college is arguably the most noteworthy example of Persian architecture of the Qajar period,…
0.3 MILES
Built in 1879 for Naser al-Din Shah's son, who was also the governor of Esfahan, as his residence in Tehran, this lovely building and garden is in the…
0.72 MILES
The late 19th-century building housing the first public bank in Iran sits at the east end of Imam Khomeini Sq. At the time of writing the brick building…
0.78 MILES
Ringed by perpetually seething traffic, Imam Khomeini Sq is not a place to linger. Little of the grandeur of the Qajar era remains here, although there is…
5. Treasury of National Jewels
0.79 MILES
Owned by the Central Bank and accessed through its front doors, the cavernous vault that houses what is commonly known as the ‘Jewels Museum’ is not to be…
0.82 MILES
Established in 1851, this was Iran's first modern university and parts of it have recently been handsomely restored with the aim of making it into a…
0.86 MILES
There's nothing subtle about the graphic displays (suitable for adults only) in the one-time prison of the shah’s brutal secret police. A prime example of…
0.96 MILES
Dating from 1892, the old Cossacks Quarters forms an impressive architectural flourish at the northern end of pedestrian Melal-e Mottahed, the street once…