A tour of Tehran's glittering palaces ++REPLAY++

Описание: (23 Jul 2016) LEAD IN:
A growing number of visitors are heading to Iran as the country repairs relations with the West.
One place popular with tourists is a UNESCO World Heritage site containing a dozen ornate palaces in the heart of Tehran.
The Golestan Palace complex consists of elaborate buildings constructed over the past 400 years.

STORY-LINE:
An oasis in the heart of Tehran, a city known for its hustle and bustle.
This is the magnificent Golestan Palace which glitters within its tranquil surroundings.
The palace and its marble throne was the genesis of present-day Tehran two centuries ago.
Recorded as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013, the Golestan Palace - meaning Roseland Palace - was initially encircled by mud-thatched walls of Tehran's citadel or Arg to protect it from invaders in the 16th century.
Golestan Palace was constructed more the 400 years ago during the Safavid kingdom (1502-1736) but was subject to destructions, renovations and additions with power transitions in Iran's history.
Most of the remaining structures though belong to the Qajar Dynasty, which ruled Iran from 1794 to 1925, and its most prominent monarch, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar.
Naser al-Din Shah was the longest ruling king of Qajar's reign and was in power for about 50 years.
The compound embraces a dozen of palaces and structures called the Marble Throne, Mirror Hall, Diamond Hall, Salam Hall, Containers Hall, Ivory Hall, Pond House, Karim Khani Nook, Shams-ol-Emareh, Brilliant Hall, Building of Windcatchers and Abyaz Palace constructed within 16th to 20th century.
Each palace had been used for a particular purpose by the royal family - a summer retreat, a site for important celebrations like Nowruz and receiving foreign guests, audiences with the king and also coronations.
The lavish palaces, elaborately adorned with splendid works of mirror, motifs, tile-work, enamel, woodcarvings, arches and lattice windows, fascinate visitors.
Top on the list of things-to-do in Tehran, Golestan Palace draws hundreds of foreign and local tourists every day who are interested in Iran's history and architecture.
Christian Helm - a German civil engineering student from the university of RWTH-Aachen - is on a tour of Iran with a group of fellow German engineers who particularly work on regeneration of historic monuments.
"People here are studying civil engineering so we are specially interested in buildings and we are focusing on rehabilitation of buildings. So we are very interested in conservation of historical sites and things like that," he says.
Marble Throne Balcony is the oldest structure of the complex.
The marble throne was designed by the royal painter Mirza Baba Shirazi and built by the royal mason Mohammad Ebrahim Esfehani.
Crafted in 1806, the throne is made of 65 pieces of yellow marble carried on the shoulders of six angels and seven demons carved in marble.
The throne's steps are decorated with marble dragons and two lions.
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, founder of Qajar Dynasty in 1796 and Reza Shah Pahlavi 1926, founder of succeeding Pahlvai Dynasty were crowned here.
The last coronation was carried out on the throne for Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who wore the crown as the last Shah of Iran in 1967.
In 1786 when the capital was just a small village, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar climbed the Marble Throne and announced Tehran as the new capital city.
The modern metropolis began to expand from this spot.
Architecture of the complex is an incorporation of Persian crafts and Western-influenced architecture.
It is also an adaptation of building technologies of that era.

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