During late April and early May I travelled for just over 2 weeks in Azerbaijan and Northern Iran. With this trip I may have definitely earned my place on the domestic security watchlist (googling my head off about Shia Islam) & given up an easy visit to the USA for 5 years (because I ticked off Iraq, Sudan and now Iran from the new Axis of Evil-list in the past 2 years). But it was all worth it: it opened up a whole new part of the world for me with its own pecularities. And that is what travel is all about.

Martyr portrait in the streets of Iran

1. Be prepared for some serious personality cults

In Azerbaijan this veneration is limited to one person: Heydar Aliyev , founding father of the current independent republic and Soviet Politburo member before that. His son has been in power for the last 13 years, but he is much less charismatic and seldom portrayed. Iran’s streets on the other hand show a whole pantheon of depicted persons. The combined pictures of Ayatollahs Khomeini and …

Golestan Palace is the most recent construction on the timeline of Iranian WHS, dating from the 19th century Qajar dynasty. It also is possibly the only real attraction of Tehran - a metropolis of 10 to 15 million inhabitants. Because of its location in the capital’s city center, it is the most visited Iranian WHS among our community after the ones in Esfahan. Still this results in only a meagre 696th spot overall.

Edifice of the Sun

Despite its relative fame, the palace is not so easy to find for an individual visitor. It lies just off a main boulevard, and is completely surrounded by much higher government buildings from the 1960s and 70s. The construction thereof by the government of the last Shah was made at the expense of older buildings belonging to the Golestan Palace (such as a theater).

When you finally find yourself at the entrance gate, there’s a big decision to make: how many of the 8 buildings/museums warrant a visit? Because on top of the 2x 150,000 Rial entrance fee to the grounds and the main buildings, there …

Masouleh is a town at 1,050m altitude in the Alborz mountains, in the north of Iran near the Caspian Sea. It dates from the 16th century, when the population of Old Masouleh was displaced due to an outbreak of the plague. Some 180 families still live in the ‘new’ village. Masouleh has been on Iran’s Tentative List since 2007, but the explanation provided why it should be considered a WHS is particularly concise: “The traditional and untouched architecture of some houses”.

The town of Masouleh

I arrived at Masouleh on May 5th, a religious holiday in Iran. It quickly became clear that many Iranians had selected this mountain village as a destination to celebrate their day off. Long lines of cars were parked alongside the entrance road. Many had ditched their cars even earlier, and were picknicking on the bank of the road. I even noticed that a few women had removed their headscarves, a pinnacle of rebelliousness in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The village only shows itself when you are right in front of it: it consists of yellow or beige coloured houses stacked on top of …

This nomination carried the Epic Subtitle “Dome of Soltaniyeh; the pasture which became the capital city of the empire”. Unfortunately it was not brought forward to the inscription, now the name of this WHS is a simple Soltaniyeh . The original title though hinted at the Mongol origins of the site: this is the best representation of the heritage of the Mongolian Ilkhanids among Iran’s WHS, although the newer parts of Takht-e Soleyman and the Blue Mosque of Tabriz also date from this era (13th-14th century).

Model of a complete mausoleum of Öljaitü

The famous Dome of Soltaniyeh can already be seen from miles away. The light-turquoise structure on top of a 50 meter high octagonal building still towers above everything in its surroundings, including the current town of some 6,000 souls. This is a very flat landscape, the Mongolians are said to have chosen this spot to settle because of the vast pastures it provided for their horses.

The building was made to house the mausoleum of Ilkhanid khan Öljeitü. Its interior at the moment is fully covered in scaffolding, therefore unfortunately it …

Takht-e Soleyman is one of these names on the WH List that mean nothing unless you’ve been there. It ranked among the very lowest in our recent Community and Popular Votes for the WHS Top 200 , probably because almost nobody had visited it (13 were there before Solivagant and I visited in April/May 2016). It ended up being my favourite WHS of Northern Iran, both for its colourful mountain scenery and introduction to Zoroastrianism. We spent 3 hours there, but I could easily have stayed an hour more.

Solomon's Prison

Takht-e-Soleyman (meaning: “the throne of Solomon”, an apocryphal name given during the Arab conquest) was the spiritual center of Zoroastrianism. It was created in the 6th century by the Persian Empire of the Sassanids, who were in fierce competition with the Byzantine Empire and Christianity and wanted to build a showcase for their own citizens. Despite reading various sources beforehand and listening to the explanations of our tour guides, I find summarizing the faith of the Zoroastrians difficult. They worshipped one god, but in their temples the focus is on the four elements of water, earth, air and …

The Armenian monastic ensembles comprise two monasteries and a church belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church of Iran. This was probably the WHS I was most looking forward to in preparation of my recent tour of Azerbaijan & Northern Iran. Since it has been added to the List, I’ve always wondered why a Shiite theocracy would nominate a purely Christian pilgrimage site. Also, remote monasteries belong to my favourite types of WHS.

St. Thaddeus Monastery

Out of the inscribed locations I only visited the St. Thaddeus monastery, which is considered the main site. Legend has it that the apostle St. Thaddeus brought Christianity to Armenia, and this spot (now located on Iranian soil) was the place where he died. Sometime between the 7th and 10th century, the St. Thaddeus Monastery was founded here. It developed into a place of pilgrimage for Armenians from Iran and neighbouring countries. Annually in summer a big festival is held in the vicinity of the monastery, with thousands of pilgrims staying in tents. From 1930 to 1947, the monastery was the seat of the Catholicos (spiritual leader) of the Armenian church. As befits any …

The Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex has been declared a WHS because of its original lay-out and architecture. The nomination file goes into extreme detail about Iranian bazaar types and customs, this apparently is “a central bazaar with radial gate-bazaars”. The 3 inscribed locations are the Grand Bazaar and 2 of the remaining secondary bazaars. It’s also one of the oldest bazaars still in use: Tabriz was already a bustling town in the 13th century, when it was an important commercial stop on the northern route of the Silk Road through Iran.

Shopping in the Bazaar

We arrived at the Grand Bazaar late in the afternoon. It still is a popular shopping district in this city of 1.5 million inhabitants, and many shoppers were about. Both modern necessities such as kitchen utensils and traditional goods like nuts and spices are sold. The figs especially are to die for, soft and sweet - nothing liked the dried-out objects you’ll find in supermarkets in Europe. Despite the bazaar’s age, it does feel quite modern and not as atmospheric as for example the medina’s of Fez and Marrakech . People in my tour …

The Sheikh Safi al-Din Khanegah and Shrine Ensemble in Ardabil is a 16th century Iranian Sufi sanctuary with an especially cumbersome name. It is shortened in the nomination file and at the site itself to ‘SKSEA’. I had it registered at this website under ‘Ardabil’, but to be clear: it’s not the whole city that is included in the List – only a specific religious ensemble.

Entrance gate to the Ensemble

Ardabil was the first city that I visited during my Iran trip. It is a sizeable provincial capital in the far northwest of the country. I arrived here from Azerbaijan via the Astara border post, somewhat of a back door to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Sufi complex lies in the center of town. It doesn’t look particularly noteworthy from the street. Most of it is hidden behind brick walls. A smallish gate, decorated with distinctive glazed tiles, houses the entrance. I arrived early in the morning, and there were hardly any other visitors. Via the garden there’s another gate to tackle, and then the site opens up to you. The courtyard of the religious complex is …

What would an international trip be without a visit to a fine example of rock art? Azerbaijan is represented among the at least 60 rock art-related WHS with the Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape . Gobustan is the name of a region near the Caspian Sea, where in the 1930’s the first discovery was made by local miners looking for gravel. The petroglyphs were carved into blocks of stone that had fallen from the cliffs above, blocks that provided natural shelter for those living in the area.

The rocks of Gobustan

The site now lies a couple of kilometres inland, but when the rock art was made the water level was much higher and these rocks were near the sea shore. It’s a quite barren area nowadays, from which you can see the offshore oilfields that keep Azerbaijan’s economics afloat. Next to the entrance of the sizeable archaeological area lies the modern Gobustan Museum. Other reviewers already have sung praise about this museum which is a 2011 addition to the ‘visitor experience’. I can only second that: it has a comprehensive exhibition that relies heavily on audio-visuals and computer …

This is a site probably few have heard of – I also did not know about it until I started preparing for my trip to Azerbaijan and stumbled upon this TWHS. Sheki has been an independent country between 1743 and 1813, after it wriggled itself free from Persia. It lies in the far north of Azerbaijan, just below the snow-capped peaks of the Greater Caucasus and the border with Russia. The proposed nomination Sheki, the Khan’s Palace seems to cover more than the palace alone: the town’s trade and industry neigbourhoods and vernacular architecture are included as well.

Sheki Old Town

Sheki was a main center of silk production in the Caucasus. It was an important stop on the trade route between “the Dagestan Mountain Traders and the main East-West Caucasus Route”, according to my Trailblazer Guide to Azerbaijan. During my trip I stayed for 2 nights in one of the two large former caravanserais in the old town: the 18th century Yuxari Caravanserai. Its grounds are nicely renovated, although the rooms are a bit damp and mouldy. But I did enjoy sitting in the little alcove in front …