Kermanshah is the 9th Iranian populated city and is considered as one of Iranian metropolises as Kermanshah province capital. It is the largest city which embraces great number of Kurds while it is considered as the most highlighted city in western part of the lovely Iran.
Great historical and cultural features have been formed a huge significance for this city through Sassanid and Seljuk eras as it was the most important Kurd city. Kermanshah is located in a mountainous region in western part of Iran; it is surrounded by high mountains by different geographical directions.
The oldest traces of human settlement in Kermanshah have been found in the Middle Paleolithic Do-Ashkaft Cave near Taq Bostan, which is believed to have been inhabited by Neanderthals. Several Neolithic and Bronze Age villages have also been discovered in the area.
Legend holds that the city was founded by the third Pishdadi King Tahmuras, the Demon Slayer. The Pishdadian are considered as the first Aryan dynasty, which have been mentioned in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh (Book of Kings) and Persian mythology. Some historians have attributed the founding of this city to the Sassanid monarch Bahram IV (389-399 CE), who because of his rule over Kerman before coming to power was called Kermanshah meaning the ‘king of Kerman.’
In the 4th century, during the Sassanid era (224–651 CE), the city became one of the cities frequented by Sassanid kings who founded several gardens in the city and spent time vacationing in its beautiful nature.
The city played an important role in the Constitutional Revolution of the early 1900s. Kermanshah was occupied by the warring sides during the first and second World Wars. The city was severely damaged during the eight-year Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s and despite reconstruction efforts it has yet to fully recover.
The city has a 150-year-old bazaar named Tarikeh Bazaar which consists of several sub-bazaars including the Jewish (Eslami) Bazaar and the goldsmith, coppersmith and ironsmith rows.
Essaqwand Tombs, Sorkh Deh (Red Village) Tomb, Anahita Temple, Shafei Jame Mosque and the Qajar era (1785–1925) Khaje Baruch House as well as the Taq Bostan Forest Park at the foot of Mount Parav are among the historical and natural attractions of the city.
Kermanshah is the land of musicians and storytellers and the birthplace of figures such as poet and writer Gholamreza Rashid Yasemi (1895-1951), Nobel Laureate Doris May Lessing (1919 -2013), novelist Ali Mohammad Afghani (1925), singer and musician Shahram Nazeri (1951), composer and master of classic Persian and Kurdish Music Kayhan Kalhor (1963), and musician and master of the Tanbur Seyed Khalil Alinezhad (1968-2001).
Kermanshah is the agricultural center of Iran and the majority of economical income of this region is also forming by this specific way. It may seem interesting if you recognize that Kermanshah is one of the most important Handicraft suppliers in Iran.
