Baharestan Palace
Government building in Tehran, Iranian national heritage site
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baharestan Palace (Persian: کاخ بهارستان) is the historic Iranian parliament building, inaugurated in 1906 (see Persian Constitutional Revolution). The neighborhood where the palace is located was named after the building.[1]
The palace was originally built by Mirza Hosein Khan Sepahsalar, a Qajar era prime minister, as his private residence. Thereafter, it was owned by Naser al-Din Shah Qajar. During the Persian Constitutional Revolution, it became the Iranian parliament building. It was bombarded in 1908 by the forces of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar leading to the Minor Tyranny.
Baharestan Palace remained the location for the lower house of the Iranian parliament (the Senate had moved to a new building in central Tehran) until the Iranian Revolution in 1979. After the revolution, the parliament became unicameral and met at the Senate building, and to a newly built building in Baharestan in 2004.
Gallery
Parliament chamber, 1906
Baharestan Palace after bombardment, 1908
The old gate to the Baharestan gardens
Plan drawing of the parliament chamber
Baharestan Palace in 1956
The parliament chamber, Pahlavi era
Baharestan Palace on a 1981 banknote
