One of the most famous historical tourist attractions of Iran, in Fars province, is the ancient city of Bishapur. This historic city, which is reminiscent of the glorious Sassanid era, is located near Tang-e Chogan. The Anahita Temple is the city’s most important World Heritage Site that recently registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Today we intend to travel in time and step into the Sassanid era.
The city that was once considered one of the most important and greatest cities in Iran has an area of about 200 hectares. The name and history of this tourist site of Iran is remembered on a valuable historical inscription on the memorial columns, and according to the inscription, this city was made by Shapur I. As in all ancient cities of the world, wherever water resources, access and climate are suitable, it is a good place to build a city, and this place was chosen for the construction of Bishapur.
Anahita temple
The most important historical monument in the ancient city of Bishapur is the Temple of Anahita. Water had a very high place in Zoroastrianism. That is why at that time they built shrines to worship water, one of the most important of which is the Anahita temple in Bishapur. From the perspective of architecture and engineering, this temple is considered one of the masterpieces Persian architecture of the Sassanid era. The people of that time very skillfully controlled and divided the entry and exit of water for worship in this temple.
Islamic School
This historic place was used as the weapons depot during the Sassanid era, after the arrival of the Muslims, this place was used as a school. This school was later restored by Adud al-Dawla Deilami.
Ceremony Hall
In the southeastern part of the Anahita temple, there is a huge hall with an area of about 781 square meters, which is known as the ceremonial hall. This hall had a plan of four porches and once had a high dome in its center. The ceremonial hall is one of the most magnificent Sassanid architectural works.
Mosaic porch
mosaic porch is one of the masterpieces of architectures of the Sassanid era, which is about 23 meters long and 20 meters wide and belonged to the private palace of Shapur. Today, pieces of mosaics of this outstanding tourist attraction of Iran can be seen in museums such as the Louvre in France, ancient Iran, etc.
Memorial columns
Right at the point where the two main streets of the city intersect, there are two high pillars with valuable inscriptions. Each of these columns is 9 meters high and it seems that there was a magnificent statue of Shapur I among them. On the columns it is written that Apasay came from the Harran, a Syrian city, and built Bishapur by the order of Shapur I and got a lot of wealth from him.
Other places in this city include the historic baths, Valerian prison (palace), the city mosque, the wall around the city. This historical city of Iran next to Tang-e-Chogan, which has six reliefs of the Sassanid era, and also Shapur Cave is a very suitable place for a trip to the history of Iran, and along with this trip, we can also mention the pleasant climate of this region.
