SHIRAZ CULTURAL CITY OF IRAN

Shiraz.  Bandar keenam terbesar di Iran.  شیراز‎‎, Šīrāz .

The earliest reference to the city, as Tiraziš, is on Elamite clay tablets dated to 2000 BC.^[4] In the 13th century, Shiraz became a leading center of the arts and letters, due to the encouragement of its ruler and the presence of many Persian scholars and artists. It was the capital of Persia during the Zand dynasty from 1750 until 1800. Two famous poets of Iran, Hafez and Saadi, are from Shiraz, whose tombs are on the north side of the current cidua. 

Perjalanan dengan bas daripada Yazd melalui lebuhraya dua lorong berasingan, sejauh 443 km mengambil masa 6J. Perjalanan yang selisa dan ZBA dapat tidur dengan nyenyak sehingga ke destinasi.  Sebagai makluman, stesen bas Yazd-Shiraz agak jauh daripada penginapan kami di "Old Town" dan perjalanan dengan teksi mengambil masa lebih kurang setengah jam dengan bayaran  IRR 150,000.  Sebuah perhentian yang cantik dan sistematik dan amat selesa bagi pengguna pengangkutan darat. Kebanyakan bas exspress bertolak pada malam hari dan Iran mempunyai rangkaian bas-bas exsekutif yang cantik tetapi malang tidak disediakan kemudahan tandas didalamnya.  Makanan ringan disediakan bagi semua penumpang sebelum bertolak.

Tepat mengikut jadual, ZBA sampai di Shiraz jam 0600am dalam suasana pagi  yang dingin.  Shiraz juga mempunyai sebuah stesen bas yang canggih melengkapi semua kehendak yang dikehendaki penumpang. ZBA berehat sehingga matahari terbit sebelum memulakan aktiviti berikutnya.

 شیراز‎‎, Šīrāz. Sebagaimana biasa dimana perhentian keretapi, bas, teksi malah lapangan terbang sekalipun diseluruh dunia, belukang sentiasa menanti anda untuk disembelih.  Ini tidak terkecuali di Stesen bas Shiraz.  Ramai betul yang bersedia menawarkan perkhidmatan pengangkutan kepada sesiapa yang sanggup membayar pada harga yang dipersetujui diawal persetujuan. Namun dalam hati busuk mereka tidak lekang dengan niat penipuan.  Jarang sekali kita dapati pemandu-pemandu yang jujur dan ikhlas mencari rezeki secara halal.

ZBA bertawakal setelah mendapat persetujuan daripada kekawan yang lain. Kami dijanjikan untuk melawat Necropolis dan  Persepolis dengan bayaran IRR 900,000 dengan sebuah kenderaan dan pemandunya mengenalkan diri sebagai anggota polis.

Ka'ba-ye Zartosht

Dek kerana semalaman dalam bas dan tidur yang tidak menentu, pagi ini terasa untuk mencuba sarapan pagi ala-Iran disebuah restoran kecil dalam perjalanan ke Persopolis. Tepat jam 9.00am kami bertolak dan berhenti disebuah stesyen minyak dan mencuba bijiran Iran yang banyak dijual ditepi jalan (#1).

Cube of Zoroaster

Meneruskan perjalanan dan saat ini ZBA tidak merasa kelainan dengan kelibat pemandu dimana beliau cuba melambat-lambatkan perjalanan.  Berbagai helah dengan caranya yang tersendiri sehinggalah kami sampai di Necropolis dan melawat Naqsh-e Rustam selama lebih kurang 30 minit. 

Ardashir 1

Dimaklumkan bayaran masuk ke Necropolis amat mahal jika dibandingkan dengan tempat-tempat lain sedangkan apa yang dapat dilihat amat terhad. Secara keseluruhan 30 minit adalah masa yang paling sesuai berada disini.  Jika pembaca mempunyai zoon lens dan tidak bercadang membuat penelitian secara terperinci apa yang terpahatkan disana, memadai dengan mengambil gambar daripada luar kawasan berbayar.  Itu pun sudah memadai dan tidak payah membayar kos yang tidak munasabah.

Beredar daripada Necropolis ZBA menuju ke Persepolis yang terletak 12 km diantara kedua-dua monument ini.

Persepolis UNESCO World Heritage

Brief Synthesis

Persepolis, whose magnificent ruins rest at the foot of Kuh-e Rahmat (Mountain of Mercy) in south-western Iran, is among the world’s greatest archaeological sites. Renowned as the gem of Achaemenid (Persian) ensembles in the fields of architecture, urban planning, construction technology, and

art, the royal city of Persepolis ranks among the archaeological sites which have no equivalent and which bear unique witness to a most ancient civilization. The city’s immense terrace was begun about 518 BCE by Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire’s king. On this terrace, successive kings erected a series of architecturally stunning palatial buildings, among them the massive Apadana palace and the Throne Hall (“Hundred-Column Hall”).

Inspired by Mesopotamian models, the Achaemenid kings Darius I (522-486 BCE), his son Xerxes I (486-465 BCE), and his grandson Artaxerxes I (465-424 BCE) built a splendid palatial complex on an immense half-natural, half-artificial terrace. This 13-ha ensemble of majestic approaches, monumental stairways,

throne rooms (Apadana), reception rooms, and dependencies is classified among the world’s greatest archaeological sites. The terrace is a grandiose architectural creation, with its double flight of access stairs, walls covered by sculpted friezes at various levels, contingent Assyrianesque propylaea (monumental gateway),

gigantic sculpted winged bulls, and remains of large halls. By carefully engineering lighter roofs and using wooden lintels, the Achaemenid architects were able to use a minimal number of astonishingly slender columns to support open area roofs. Columns were topped with elaborate capitals; typical was the double-bull capital where, resting on double volutes, the forequarters of two kneeling bulls, placed back-to-back, extend their coupled necks and their twin heads directly under the intersections of the beams of the ceiling.

Persepolis was the seat of government of the Achaemenid Empire, though it was designed primarily to be a showplace and spectacular centre for the receptions and festivals of the kings and their empire. The terrace of Persepolis continues to be, as its founder Darius would have wished, the image of the Achaemenid monarchy itself, the summit where likenesses of the king reappear unceasingly, here as the conqueror of a monster, there carried on his throne by the downtrodden enemy, and where lengthy cohorts of sculpted warriors and guards, dignitaries, and tribute bearers parade endlessly.

Sedikit makluman, Persepolis adalah satu monument yang cantik dan dibina serta dipahat daripada batu-batu pejal yang solid. ZBA pernah  melihat benda yang sama  di Jordan, Greece, Italy, Eygpt dan lain-lain tetapi tidak dapat menandingi apa yang terdapat di Iran.  Tidak hairan jika kita katakan Iran mempunyai tamadhun yang tertua didunia sejak beradad lamanya.

Disarankan juga kepada pembaca agar tidak ketinggalan membawa air minuman dan payung ketika melawat Persepolis dimusim panas. Tiada pokok dan tempat perlindungan disediakan sama ada panas atau hujan. Tidak dibenarkan membawa masuk sebarang barangan persendirian termasuk tripod kecuali camera.

ZBA menghabiskan sekitar 3 jam dan lebih dan kembali ke Shiraj lewat petang. Lawatan yang bermanfaat dan wajar dikunjungi sekiranya kita berpeluang mengunjungi Iran.

Iran breakfast style

(#1).  Ini hanya sekadar perkongsian pengalaman.  Tetapi perkara begini dimana-mana pun ada dan sukar dibendung. Cubaan untuk menyembelih pelancung. Perkara ini tidak boleh dielak tetapi kekadang kita kena berkeras.  Sama juga dengan pemandu Iran ini, janji lain dan dia buat lain.  Gelagatnya seperti yang ZBA maklumkan diatas dengan berbagai cara cuba melambatkan perjalanan supaya dapat meminta lebih daripada pelanggan.  Semua ota-ota tersebut ZBA perhatikan sahaja dalam mana sampai kesatu peringkat beliau sanggup memperlahankan kenderaan di lebuhraya dari kelajuan tinggi dan tak semena-mena menukar ke gear 3.  Memandu dengan sambil lewa dan masuk ke stesyen minyak dan keluar semula.  

Capati Iran

Sampai di hotel, jangkaan ZBA tepat.  Beliau meminta bayaran tambahan masa. Puas bertekak dan sampai kesatu peringkat ZBA meludah ketanah. Tetapi manusia yang tidak mempunyai integriti mana ada maruah, mana mungkin mahu mengalah.  Nah !, anjing jalanan, tidak kami halal pemberian ini dan semuga dilaknati Allah.

Sebagaimana diketahui Shiraz mempunyai dua buah masjid yang dikatakan tercantik. Satunya ialah Masjid Nasir Al Mulk dan keduanya Masjid Syah Cheragh disamping masjid-masjid yang lain.

Nasir Al-Mulk Mosque. 

Located in city of Shiraz and was built in Qajar era by Nasir Al-Mulk. This mosque has two eastern and western bedchambers, and the eastern one has a tiled altar accompanied with 12 columns and windows with colorful glasses. During winter seasons when sunlight shines through the colorful glasses, it presents as exemplary beauty to the interior of the bedchamber, making this mosque outstandingly aesthetical among other mosques of Iran. The tiling and paintings of the bedchambers are of exceptional beauty as well.

From the start of dawn  the mosque is filled with colour and light. Sun shines through the glass and fills the inside, the persian rugs, the ceiling and wall tiles with patterns and colours.

I am so amazed at how the architect was able to combine so many things to build such an exquisite mosque.

ZBA went to this mosque on a winter morning, and waited for the light that moves gently from the right hand side of the mosque towards the left, to fall exactly in the center so that photograph could be completely symmetrical.

Beginilah keadaan warna daripada pantulan cahaya matahari pagi didalam Masjid Nasir Al Mulk

Bagi mendapatkan pantulan cahaya dan warna yang jelas pembaca dinasihatkan berada di masjid ini sekitar jam 9.00am. Juga dimaklumkan Masjid akan ditutup pada setiap waktu solat dan dibuka semula diantaranya.

Sekarang kita beralih pula ke Masjid Syah Cheragh yang terletak tidak jauh diantara keduanya. Ini sebuah masjid yang waktu lawatannya menjadi lebih ramai dan meriah diwaktu malam. Keistimewaan masjid ini daripada pandangan seorang penulis.

Shah-e-Cheragh

Funerary monument and mosque located in the city of Shiraz,  where lies the tomb of Amir Ahmad and his brother Mir Muhammad, sons of the seventh Imam and brothers of Imam Reza. Amir Ahmad and Mir Muhammad were hunted down and killed by the caliphate on this site in AD  835  during  the   Abbasid

persecution of the Shi'ite sect. The brothers' tombs, originally only simple mausoleums, became celebrated pilgrimage destinations in the 14th century when the pious and art-loving Queen Tashi Khatun erected a mosque and theological school by the tombs. After carrying out essential repairs, the queen ordered the tomb to be covered with millions of pieces of colored glass that glitter in the light and magnify its brilliance a thousand times. Shah-e-Cheragh is one of the most beautiful mosques and an important pilgrimage center of the city of Shiraz.

The wide mosque is flanked by two minarets and dominated by a dome is located in the west wing. The high eaves are supported by thick octagonal columns connected by a wall of green marble, carved entirely of wood. The entrance is guarded by a heavy door, plated with gold and enamel with a glass panel at its center. The pilgrims kiss and fondle the door as you enter.

Inside, the enormous dome above the shrine is inlaid with hundreds of thousands of pieces of finely crafted tiles, and the interior walls are covered with myriad pieces of dazzling glass intermixed with multi-colored tiles – green, yellow, red and blue, interspersed with glasses of paler shades sometimes. High

and large windows down to the ground are largely made up of mosaics of stained glass which are reflected in the mosaics of mirrors. Embedded in the walls everywhere are verses from the Quran written on silk paper and framed. The green marble floor is covered with thick red Iranian carpets and magnificent crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling above.

In the center, under the dome, lies the tomb of Syed Mir Ahmad. The marble tombstone, topped with a wide, low lacquer box inlaid structure is surrounded by a finely engraved silver with glass openings showing the inside. Verses from the Quran are written in gold letters on a blue background, and flowers are inlaid or carved into the metal. In another corner lies the tomb of Mir Muhammad that looks the same but much smaller than the tomb of his elder brother.

The brothers’ tombs were built in the 12th century by the chief minister to the monarch Atabeg Abū Sa'id Zangi, who also built the tomb chamber, the dome, as well as a colonnaded porch. The mosque remained this way for roughly 200 years before further work was initiated by Queen Tash Khātūn during the years 1344-1349 AD. She carried out essential repairs, constructed an edifice, a hall of audience, a fine college, and a tomb for herself on the south side. She also presented a unique Qur'an of thirty volumes, written in golden Sols characters with gold decoration, which is now preserved in the Pars Museum.

Pemandangan dalaman dalam Masjid Syah Cheragh dan makam Imam Syiah yang ke 7

Sebenarnya banyak lagi masjid-masjid unik yang  sempat ZBA lawati di Shiraz tetapi tidaklah ternama jika dibandingkan dengan dua masjid yang disebutkan diatas. 3H/2M ZBA berada di Syiraz dan malam ini akan meneruskan pengembaraan ke Esfahan.  Sebuah lagi kota bersejarah di Iran.

ESFAHAN

UNKNOWN PEARL OF THE MIDDLE EAST

 

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