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This is the ‘back’ entrance of Qasr-i Bahram in the 1970s. The doors have been changed, and the small canal supplying water is now more visible, but otherwise this looks almost exactly the same now. [SA.M.4]

Qasr-i Bahram, as the building is now called locally, is still stunning. Local experts say it was built as a hunting lodge for Shah Abbas. Graffiti recorded in the building in 1971 included a date of 1001AH/1592CE. Despite this, there is no record of Abbas stopping here when he passed in 1601 on the 1000km …

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In 1628, Herbert described the “notable” caravanserai at Syacow, “which is built from the ground of good freestone, white and well polished, yea to the best of my remembrance . . this was the first building of this material I saw in eight hundred miles”. Here it is in the 1970s, when AH Morton visited. …

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This image shows the area north-east of Kashan, up towards the Khurasan Highroad. In 1601, Shah Abbas walked through Kushab (bottom left here) and Dastkan, then across the white salt wastes of the Darya Namak, via Hauz-i Aga Muhammad and up towards Pul-i Shurab. He apparently did not stop at any of the three nearby …

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Siahkuh (also called Abbasabad or Qasr-i Bahram) and Haramserail are situated close together, and between the fearsome salt plains of the Darya Namak and a 30km expanse of salty mud. Siahkuh is said to have been built as a hunting lodge for Shah Abbas the First, while the nearby Haramserail is suggested to have been …

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