Palace sights in Esfahan
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Chehel Sotun
One of the only surviving palaces from the royal parklands between Imam Sq and Chahar Bagh Abbasi St, Safavid-era Chehel Sotun is today most famous for its frescoes. It was built as a pleasure pavilion and reception hall, using the Achaemenid-inspired talar (columnar porch) style. There are historical references to the palace dating from 1614; however, an inscription uncovered in 1949 says it was completed in 1647 under the watch of Shah Abbas II. Either way, what you see today was rebuilt after a fire in 1706.
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B
Ali Qapu Palace
Built at the very end of the 16th century as a residence for Shah Abbas I, the majestic six-storey Ali Qapu Palace also served as a monumental gateway (Ali Qapu means the ‘Gate of Ali’) to the royal palaces that lay in the parklands beyond. Named for Abbas’ hero, the Imam Ali, it was built to make an impression and at six storeys and 48m tall it did. French traveller Sir John Chardin described it as ‘the largest palace ever built in any capital’.
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C
Hasht Behesht Palace
Once the most luxuriously decorated in Esfahan, the interior of the small Hasht Behesht Palace has been extensively damaged over the years. However, it retains a seductive tranquillity, with the soaring wooden columns on its open-sided terrace seeming to mirror the trees in the surrounding park.
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