Current Time in Qazvin, Iran

Qazvin is a historic city in north-western Iran and the capital of the province that bears its name. It lies on a broad plain at an altitude of around 1,300 metres, framed to the north by the rugged wall of the Alborz Mountains and opening to the south towards the central plateau. Roughly 150 kilometres from Tehran, Qazvin has always been a crossroads, linking the capital with Iranian Azerbaijan, the Caspian coast and the trade routes of the west.

The city has a population of about four hundred thousand people, with several hundred thousand more living in the surrounding districts. Its importance today is partly industrial, since the Qazvin plain hosts one of Iran's largest concentrations of manufacturing, textile and food-processing plants, and partly agricultural, thanks to vineyards, orchards and pistachio groves. Qazvin is also known nationally for its confectionery, especially a distinctive dry baklava that visitors rarely leave without.

Qazvin's history stretches back to the Sassanian era, when a settlement was founded here to defend the region against raids from the mountains. Its greatest moment came in the sixteenth century, when Shah Tahmasp I moved the Safavid capital to Qazvin, and for around half a century the city stood at the centre of Persian political and artistic life. Court painters, calligraphers and architects gathered here before the capital was transferred to Isfahan, leaving Qazvin with an unusually rich architectural legacy for a city of its size.

The best known monument is the Chehel Sotoun pavilion, a Safavid royal building set in a garden in the heart of the city and now housing a calligraphy museum. Nearby stand the Jameh Mosque, whose oldest sections date from the early Islamic centuries, the elegant Nabi Mosque, and the shrine of Imamzadeh Hossein with its mirrored interior. The Sad al-Saltaneh Caravanserai, a vast covered complex of courtyards, shops and tea houses, has been carefully restored and is one of the finest examples of its kind in Iran. Beyond the city, in the Alamut valley, lie the ruins of the mountain fortresses once held by the Nizari Ismailis, reached through some of the most dramatic scenery in the country.

Cultural life revolves around the bazaar, the tea houses and museums devoted to calligraphy, anthropology and local history. Qazvin has a long reputation for humour and satire in Persian literature, and traditional carpets, metalwork and painted tiles are still produced in the region.

Transport connections are excellent by Iranian standards. Motorways and a railway line link Qazvin to Tehran, Zanjan, Tabriz and Rasht, and the city is a common overnight stop for travellers heading to the Caspian Sea. Higher education is well established, with Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences and several technical institutes drawing students from across the country and abroad.

Qazvin rewards attention. It combines the calm of a provincial capital with the monuments of a former imperial seat, and it serves as the natural base for exploring the castles and valleys of Alamut, making it one of the most rewarding stops on any journey through northern Iran.