Gour City of Firuzabad

Gour City is the name of one of the historic sites from Sassanid dynasty in Fars Province. It is amongst the first cities that had a circular plan. This city was a part of the Pars State that was founded by Ardeshir I one thousand and seven hundred years ago in the early years of the third century.

Ardeshir Sassanid named the newly made city Ardeshir Khoreh after himself. This name refers to Far, the Zoroastrian concept literally denoting glory or splendor, and suggested that Far was accompanying this king. Because of its pleasing climate and numerous resources of water, Ardeshir Khoreh flourished so much that it is said that its fruit gardens and majestic houses could be seen even in the borders of the city.

Ardeshir Khoreh City was surrounded by a defensive wall that contained all the streets and houses in itself. The streets were built in the forms of intersecting circles, the centers of which were the center of the city itself. This part was surrounded by a smaller wall. In the heart of this past there was the tower of Ardeshir Khoreh. This tower was about thirty meters tall and looked more like a minaret. It is one of the few remaining structures of the city. The tower of Ardeshir Khoreh has been designed in a way that one could watch all over the city and the lands around it from its above.

Another remaining structure of this city is Takhtneshin or the fire temple. One of the attractions of this section is the Saghe of the pillars that are known to belong to Achaemenid dynasty. But the architectural style of this temple, is inspired by Sassanid principles.

These ancient and unique structures led to the registration of Ardeshir Khoreh in the Sassanid lands of Fars Province as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Even though the sources from pre-Islamic era, refer to this city as Gour City too, after the Islamic era, its name was changed into Firuzabad. It was Adud Al-Dawla who chose this name because he considered Gour unlucky. Instead, he chose Piruzabad or Firuzabad meaning victorious. Today Ardeshir Khoreh remains a symbol of the coherent Sassanid considerations of construction and architecture.