Warm Regards
Mohan Lal Kashyap
A journey in Persia: Spectacular photos capture life in Iran, from colourful markets to mud villages and two thousand-year-old ruins
Published: 19:02 GMT, 2 June 2014 | Updated: 01:19 GMT, 3 June 2014
Few travellers have ventured to Iran in recent years.
But as the country marks 25 years since the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic revolution, a spectacular series of images reveals what life is like in the second-largest nation in the Middle East.
From the tombs of Achaemenid kings hewn into a cliff to carpet sellers in colourful markets and a remote town built entirely of mud, the amazing photographs show the variety to be found in one of the oldest civilisations in the world.
Ayatollah Khomeini was the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. Khomeini then became the country's supreme leader.
Twenty-five years after his death, on June 4, 1989, the country will honour the leader, whose legacy lives on and whose face still gazes across cities and towns from murals painted onto buildings.
The country is expected to come to a standstill for the day, with flights in and out grounded.
But with current president Hassan Rouhani recently declaring the country open for business, this series of photos could inspire intrepid travellers to visit the country.
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Animal magic: A shepherd herds goats at sunset near the village of Nasrabad, in central Iran
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Revered: A cyclist passes a banner featuring Khomeini in the desert town of Yazd, just days before the former supreme leader is to be remembered on June 4
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Upholding traditions: A woman smokes a hookah while visiting a poetry calligraphy workshop in Shiraz, the heartland of Persian culture for the last 2,000 years
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Ancient history: Tourists walk through the Persepolis archeological site, which mark the site of the 6th century BC Persian Achaemenid Empire, the largest empire the world had known up to that time, which was eventually ended by Alexander the Great
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Local materials: A cyclist rides through the streets of the ancient town of Narin, in central Iran, known for its mud brick architecture and handicrafts
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Into the future: Apartment complexes rise on the outskirts of the city of Shiraz, which is famed for its progressive attitudes and tolerance
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Honoured: Stamps of the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini sit on display at a mail museum in Meybod
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Respecting the elderly: An Islamic cleric is assisted to a mosque in Yazd. Iran is still a strictly Islamic country and female tourists are obliged to wear headscarves to cover their hair
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Heritage: Tombs of Achaemenid kings stand hewn into a cliff in Naqsh-e-Rostam. The ruins mark the burial sites of three kings from the 6th century BC Persian Achaemenid Empire
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Novelty: A parakeet awaits customers in order to choose a 'fortune' outside the Iranian poet Hafez's tomb. The bird picks a piece of paper from a box with a verse of Hafez's poetry, meant to give advice for future endeavours
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Tourists walk through the Gate of All Nations at the ancient Persepolis archeological site (left); hotel doorman Aboul Fazl Kalantari (right), and driver Mohammad Ali Khabiri await guests at the Moshir-al-Mamalek Garden Hotel. Kalantari is one of two dwarfs hired as doormen at the hotel.
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Seeing red: A group of Spanish tourists walks through the ruins of an ancient fortress in the desert city of Meybod
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Lost art: Textile weaver Ali Ghayoumi, 83, makes camel hair cloth on his loom in Narin. Mr Ghayoumi, who has worked in the same underground workshop since the age of 10, is one of the last loom weavers in Narin, his craft increasingly replaced by factory production in larger cities
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Evening entertainment: A boy kicks up water in a public fountain near the Amir Chakhmaq Hosseinieh facade in the desert town of Yazd
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Local colour: A shopper buys patterned material featuring American cartoon characters at the Vakil Bazaar in Shiraz
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Standing guard: Groundskeepers work amidst the ancient Persepolis archeological site
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Call to prayer: Worshippers take part in prayers at the Aramgah-e Shah-e Cheragh shrine in Shiraz, Iran. Thousands of Muslim pilgrims visit to pray at the shrine, one of the holiest Shiite sites in Iran
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Afternoon nap: A carpet vendor dozes during a lunch break at the Vakil Bazaar in Shiraz, which, like all of Iran, will this week observe the 25th anniversary of the death of Khomeini
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Market day: A woman shops at the Vakil Bazaar in Shiraz, in the southwest of the country, known as a treasure trove of Persian culture
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Celebrating customs: A wax figure of a woman sits in a wheat-grinding pose at the archeological and coin museum in the desert town of Yazd
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Ancient and modern: A family rides a motorcycle past the Amir Chakhmaq Hosseinieh worship site, one of the largest such structures in Iran, in Yazd
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Time for tea: A teacup statue stands outside a closed truckstop near Pasargadae. Iran's economy continues to reel due to international sanctions
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Staying cool: A tourist approaches a traditional ice house in Abarqu, in central Iran, an ancient refrigerator that could store ice even in the heart of the desert
Rush hour: Traffic moves slowly through the streets of Isfahan, Iran's number one tourist destination, due to its important Islamic buildings and beautiful gardens
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