West Azerbaijan
آذربایجان غربیLake Urmia, Azerbaijani and Kurdish towns, Armenian churches and the Sasanian fire temple of Takht-e Soleyman.
West Azerbaijan runs along the borders of Turkey and Iraq around Lake Urmia, a salt lake once among the largest in the Middle East and now much reduced. Its people are Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Armenian and Assyrian.
In the south-east, Takht-e Soleyman was the site of Adur Gushnasp, one of the three great fire temples of the Sasanian empire, built around a spring-fed lake. In the north stands the Armenian monastery of Saint Thaddeus, the Qara Kelisa.
Cities and towns
Urmiaارومیه
The provincial capital beside the lake
Mahabadمهاباد
A centre of Kurdish culture
Khoyخوی
An old town on the road to Anatolia
Landmarksبناها و نشانهها
Takht-e Soleyman
تخت سلیمانThe Sasanian royal fire temple around a spring-fed lake
Qara Kelisa
قره کلیساThe Armenian monastery of Saint Thaddeus
West Azerbaijan through time
Iranian historyThe Pahlavi century and afterدوران پهلوی و پس از آن
Two Pahlavi shahs built railways, universities and a centralised state, while poets, novelists and film-makers created a new Persian culture. The era ended with the revolution of 1979.
- Takht-e Soleyman inscribed by UNESCO
- Inscribed by UNESCO among Armenian monasteries