IranMap

Kashan (Persian: کاشان) is a city in the province of Isfahan, Iran. it is located about 250 km (150 miles) south of Tehran or 100 km (60 miles) south of Ghom (Qom) on the secondary road to Isfahan.
The city name comes from Kasian, the original inhabitants of Kashan whose remains are found at Tapeh Sialk dating back 9,000 years over millennia this changed to kashian and the town became Kashan.

Kashan is one of the oldest, most attractive and prosperous oasis town in Iran with a rich history. It is famous for manufacturing carpets, silk and other textiles.

With 183 historical buildings Kashan is registered as national heritage.
Fin Garden (a 16th-century garden with natural springs, constructed by Shah Abbas),
Agha Bozorg Mosque (Famous for its architectural and constructional techniques) and
House of Borujerdi, where a velvet-weaving workshop exists are famous tourist attractions.

Kashan is famous for its annual harvest of roses (in the middle two weeks of May) from which rose water & rose oil are made.

Agha Bozorg Mosque

Khashan carpets are counted among the world’s finest carpets. With Kerman and Tabriz, Kashan has been the principal source for the collector of special pieces—personage rugs, symbolic rugs, and ornate prayer rugs. Kashan carpets are asymmetrically knotted on silk or cotton foundations, depending upon the fiber of the pile.

Kashan has an estimated population of 300.000.

Week 35-2010, Weekly Photos Selection, from IranMap-Flickr group

To see more photos from Iran

Esfahan or Isfahan (historically also rendered as Ispahan or Hispahan, Old Persian: Aspadana, Middle Persian: Spahan, Persian: اصفهان Esfahan), located about 340 km south of Tehran at 32°39′5″N 51°40′45″E is the capital of Esfahan Province and Iran’s third largest city (after Tehran and Mashhad).

Esfahan City had a population of 1,583,609 and the Esfahan metropolitan area had a population of 3,430,353 in the 2006 Census, the second most populous metropolitan area in Iran after Tehran.

The cities of Najafabad, Khaneh Esfahan, Khomeini-shahr, Shahin-shahr, Zarrinshahr, Mobarakeh, Falavarjan and Fouladshahr all constitute the metropolitan city of Esfahan. Esfahan is located on the main north-south and east-west routes crossing Iran, and was once one of the largest cities in the world. It flourished from 1050 to 1722, particularly in the 16th century under the Safavid dynasty, when it became the capital of Persia for the second time in its history. Even today, the city retains much of its past glory. It is famous for its Islamic architecture, with many beautiful boulevards, covered bridges, palaces, mosques, and minarets.
This led to the Persian proverb Esfahan nesf-e jahan ast: “Esfahan is half of the world”.

Photo – Masoud Alinaghian

The Naghsh-e Jahan Square in Esfahan is one of the biggest city squares in the world and an outstanding example of Iranian and Islamic architecture. It has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The city also has a wide variety of historic monuments ranging from the Sassanid to the Safavid dynasties.

Remaining Islamic architectural sites were built from 11th to the 19th century while older pre-Islamic monuments date back to 1000 B.C.