East Kurdistan · Rojhelat · Persian, Roman & Sasanian
Taq-e Bostan
Sasanian royal reliefs carved into arched grottoes beside a spring-fed pool, at the foot of a mountain.
- Period
- 4th–7th century AD
- Place
- Kirmaşan (Kermanshah)
- Region
- East Kurdistan · Rojhelat
- Age
- Persian, Roman & Sasanian
The Sasanian kings chose this spot, where a spring rises from the foot of the mountain, for a royal garden and for reliefs cut into the rock. The largest grotto is a great vaulted iwan: on its back wall a king in armour sits on horseback, and its side walls show royal hunts of deer and boar in marshes, carved in remarkable detail.
The arch of the iwan, framed by winged figures, is one of the finest surviving pieces of Sasanian architecture and carving.
Chosen and introduced by Aram Mizuri, architect in Erbil