Iranian architecture
![Si-o-se Pol](/Images/godic/202501/21/Si-o-se-Pol3245.jpg")
![The Eram Garden in Shiraz is an 18th-century building and a legacy of the Zand Dynasty.](/Images/godic/202501/21/Baghe_Eram_Shiraz3245.jpg")
![Persian-style column, as seen in Persepolis.](/Images/godic/202501/21/Perspolis3245.jpg")
![Hatra in Iraq. In the 3rd to 1st century BCE, during the Parthian Empire, Hatra was a religious and trading center. Today it is a World heritage site, protected by UNESCO.](/Images/godic/202501/21/Hatra_ruins3245.jpg")
Iranian architecture or Persian architecture is the architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Its history dates back to at least 5,000 BCE with characteristic examples distributed over a vast area from Turkey and Iraq to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and from the Caucasus to Zanzibar. Persian buildings vary from peasant huts to tea houses and garden, pavilions to "some of the most majestic structures the world has ever seen". In addition to historic gates, palaces, and mosques, the rapid growth of cities such as the capital, Tehran (Architecture of Tehran) has brought about a wave of demolition and new construction.