On the road from Tehran toward Kermanshah, one passes through the valley of Asadabad . There, in the small town of Kangavar , ruins of a historical site appear in full majesty.
This site is known as the Temple of Anahita, which was built by Achaemenian Emperor Ardeshir II (Artaxerxes II) during 359 BC to 404 BC, the website Vohuman reported.
Kangavar was mentioned by the Greek geographer Isidore of Charax in the first century AD under the name of Konkobar in the ancient province of Ecbatana ; its name may have been derived from the Avestan Kanhavara, “enclosure of Kanha“.
This legendary temple was built in honor of “Ardevisur Anahita,“ the female guardian angel of waters.
Architecture
The temple’s architecture matches those of palaces and temples built during the Achaemenian period, 330 BC to 550 BC, in western Iran . Large pieces of stone are cut and placed on top of each other; their shape usually causes them to interlock and form a wall or platform by a mountainside.
The Arab geographer Yaqut wrote the following about Kangavar in 1220: he says the place was the meeting-place of bandits, locally called either Qasr-e Shirin ( Castle of Shirin ) after Khosro’s favorite wife, or more often Qasr Al-Lasus (the Robbers’ Castle). He wrote: “The Robbers’ Castle is a very remarkable monument, and there is a platform some 20 cubits above the ground and on it there are vast portals, palaces and pavilions, remarkable for their solidity and beauty.“
The shapes and carvings of the columns are similar to those found in Persepolis and the Palace of Darius in Susa .
In the 19th century, various Europeans investigated the ruins. Ker Porter in 1818
found them to form the foundations of a single huge platform--a rectangular terrace three hundred yards long, crowned with a colonnade.
Professor Jackson in 1906 found one very well-preserved wall at the northwestern corner of the enclosure, probably part of the foundation of a single building. It was 12 to 15 feet high and lay north to south for more than 70 feet.
Silver and Gold
According to some historians, the Temple of Anahita at Ecbatana was a vast palace, four-fifths of a mile in circumference, built of cedar or cypress wood. In all of it, not a single plank or column stood but was covered by plates of silver or gold. Every tile of the floor was made of silver and the building’s fa�ade was apparently covered with bricks of silver and gold.
It was first plundered by Alexander in 335 BC and further stripped during the reigns of Antigonus (BC 325-301) and Seleucus Nicator (BC 312-280).
But when Antiochus the Great arrived at the city in 210 BC, he found columns covered with gold and silver tiles in the temple, along with gold and silver bricks.
Archeological excavations uncovered the imprints of Sassanid dynasty.

Taq-e Bostan
Continuing on the road to
Kermanshah would take the traveler to another ancient site known as Taq-e Bostan.
At this site, several Taqs (arches) are carved with detailed inscriptions commemorating a major event of the era. The largest and latest Taq was carved to celebrate the coronation of Khosro-II Parviz, also known as Khosro Parviz. In the upper section of the Taq, Khosro’s image is carved receiving his crown from Mobed-e-Mobedan (the topmost priest of his time) under the protection of the guardian angel of waters--Anahita.

For the first time in Hamedan province and west of Iran, an endangered bird species called ’corncrake’ has been identified.
The bird after being caught alive and pictures taken of it was released, the Persian daily ’Iran’ reported.
Head of Hamedan Department of Environment said the habitat of this bird is mostly pastures and can hardly be seen during daytime because it mostly lives in isolation and away from other birds.
Mehdi Riyahi pointed out that corncrake is scattered in the Mediterranean region, Arab countries and reproduces in the Middle East and probably Turkey.
However, there are no details of corncrake’s reproduction in other regions.

The idyllic Eram Garden (Bagh-e Eram) in Shiraz (in Fars province) is a striking location for visitors with a variety of plants, as well as a historical mansion.
Although the exact date of the garden’s construction is not known, historical evidence suggests it was constructed upon the order of Seljuk monarch Sultan Sanjar as many other gardens were established during his reign.
According to Presstv, like many other historical monuments in the southern city of Shiraz, it was restored and repaired by the Zand kings (1750-1794).
During the late Zand Dynasty, the garden was owned by Qashqaei tribal chiefs. A Qashqaei tribal chief, Mohammad Qoli Khan ordered the construction of the original mansion in the early eighteenth century, planting the garden with different trees, including cypress, pine, orange and persimmon trees.
During the reign of Nassereddin Shah of Qajar Dynasty, Mirza Hassan Ali Khan Nasir-ul Molk bought the gardens from Qashqaei tribes and constructed the present pavilion which was designed by a famous Shirazi architect, Mohammad Hassan.
The decoration of the pavilion was completed by Hassan Ali Khan’s son Abolqassem Khan who inherited the garden after his father.
The garden finally went to Abolqassem Khan’s son Abdullah Qavami who sold it to Qashqaei tribes once again.
The beautiful three-story pavilion of the garden was constructed according to Safavid and Qajar architectural style.
The lower story of the mansion has been particularly designed for relaxation during the hot summer days. The ceiling of this structure is beautifully adorned with colorful tiles. A small stream also passes through the story, connecting to a large pool in front of the building.
The middle story has a large veranda erected on two pillars behind which stands a magnificent hall. On the two sides of the hall are two corridors each having four rooms and two small terraces. The front sides of the pillars are decorated with tiles showing images of horse-riders and flowers. The upper story consists of a large hall whose windows open to the main veranda. It is also surrounded by two corridors leading to two terraces.
On the entablature of the building there are three arched (semi-circular, crescent-shaped) pediments ornamented with tilework.
The middle pediment, being larger than the other two, shows Nassereddin Shah (a famous Qajar king) riding on the back of a white horse.
Around this picture, some scenes based on storied from the works of Ferdowsi and Nezami (two famous poets) can be seen.
One of the small pediments represents an image of Darius the Great (the founder of the Achaemenid Dynasty) as represented in Persepolis monuments.
And finally the third pediment illustrates a deer being hunted by a panther.
The garden with its beautiful flowers, refreshing air, tall cypresses (a stately, beautiful cypress tree there known as sarv-e naz which is said to go back to 3,000 years ago) and fragrant myrtles is a major tourist destination particularly during spring.
Now a property of Shiraz University, it has been turned into a botanical garden and is open to the public as a museum. The mansion has also been assigned to the university’s Faculty of Law.
It has been named after a legendary garden called Eram in southern Arabia, built upon an order of Shaddad, an Arab king, to compete with Paradise.

A German Bundestag lawmaker and spokesman for the development of German Social Christian parties’ coalition, Christian Roudak, has visited Iran’s Department of Environment and met with DoE’s director for habitats and regional affairs. The German lawmaker expressed his interest in gaining more information about Iran’s wildlife and rare animal species, reported Persian daily Iran.
Amir Abdous, the DoE official, said that his organization will propose its suggestions for making optimized use from the protected areas in order to improve the economy of the protected areas.
“Roudak also became familiarized with the manner in which the Asian cheetah is traced in the wildlife of Yazd’s Anjir Valley and breeding of the yellow deer,“ Abdous noted.