Zanjan city

Zanjan is a historically ancient city and is the capital of the Zanjan Province, located at the North West of Iran with 48°28′ E longitude and 36°40′ N latitude. The history of the city stretches back to the Sassanid Dynasty (180 AD), though there are evidences of human activities in the Achaemenid Dynasty (500 BC). The Sassanid king, Ardeshir Babakan, reconstructed the city and called it Shahin as a lady name, but later it was renamed Zangan, of which the present name is the arabicized form. Zanjan now has a population of over 430,000. The city is connected to Tehran through a transit highway and railway.

There are five train services to Tehran and back covering the 320 km distance roughly in 3:30 to 4 hours. Zanjan is a green and pleasant city. The Zanjan-rood, (the Zanjan River) which originates near the city of Sultanieh, runs past Zanjan. On the banks of this river there are large orchards and natural forests, such as the Forest Park of Zanjan, providing pleasant places of recreation for the inhabitants. To the north of the province, there is the Taarom Valley with a moderate climate and overlooking the Ghizil Ozan river. Along the Zanjan-Tehran Motorway, there are places of interest including the beautiful plains of Sultanieh, 40 kilometers east of Zanjan; Saa-in Ghal ’e, 60 kilometres away; and Khorram-darreh and Ab-har, 80 kilometers away. These regions with green hills and huge orchards have a cool and refreshing climate. The Zanjan Province, whose towns are located at the foots of high mountains offers plenty of attraction to mountain-climbers. The existence of natural caves such as Kataleh page University of Zanjan 13 Khor in Khodaa-bandeh 80 kilometers east of Zanjan, attracts many visitors every year. In winter, the Paapa ’ee ski resort, only 30 kilometers from Zanjan, is covered with snow for three months offering skiers an opportunity to enjoy themselves. There are also historical buildings in the province. The Sultaanieh Dome is an important historical monument built under Sultan Uljaitoo in the fourteenth century A.D., which has been restored in resent years. The explorers who visited the Dome in its early good shape considered it as one of the most interesting and important structures built in the Islamic era. The congregational mosque of Zanjan and the city’s ancient bazaar are also among the places of interest. In addition to these, the shrines of Chalabi Oghli and Mullah Hassan Kaashaani near Soltanieh and that of Seyed Ebrahim in Zanjan, which are a few hundred years old can also be cited among the places of interest. Shahāb ad-Dīn Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardī (also known as Sohrevardi) (1154-1191 AD) is also a well-known Persian philosopher who was born in the Suhrward Village of the Zanjan Province. He lived in 12th century and was the founder of the Iranian school of Illuminationism, an important school in Islamic philosophy that drew upon Zoroastrian and Platonic ideas. In the past, Zanjan was a center for traditional and religious education, but higher education institutions have emerged since 1970s, among them the most important public universities are the University of Zanjan, Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences, and Zanjan University of Medical Sciences. Other public and private higher education institutions are the Islamic Azad University of Zanjan, Payam noor University, University of Applied Sciences in Zanjan and other private institutions.