Herat province is one of the western province of Afghanistan. Its center is Herat City. Herat province has many ancient places for sightseeing. A number of ancient places of Herat are: Herat Towers, Ekhtiaruddin Fort (Qala-e- Ekhtiaruddin), Herat Central Masjid (Mosque) and Jihad Museum.
Herat Ancient Places:
- Herat Towers
- Ekhtiaruddin Fort (Qala-e-Ekhtiaruddin)
- Herat Central Masjid (Mosque)
- Jihad Museum
Herat Towers:
Herat Towers were designed and built in the late of 15th AC century by Gawhar Shad Begum ( wife of Shahrukh Mirzai, one of the temuri emperors). There was a time when different caravans came to Herat and these towers guided them towards the city.
These towers showed to every newcomer the power of Temuris empire’s and their attention to the architect of buildings.
The height of these towers was (34 m) in the beginning , whose upper parts have collapsed and now the height of these towers reaches 30 to 32 meters.
Ekhtiaruddin Fort (Qala-e- Ekhtiaruddin):
Ekhtiaruddin Fort (Qala-e- Ekhtiaruddin) was built by Alexander in 330 BC and named it (Alexandria in Ariana). They built this fort for their soldiers, whose remains are still there.
The purpose of making this fort was to protect the military from a possible rebellion of the people against the Macedonians empire. This huge fort is located in the middle of Herat city.
Herat Central Masjid (Mosque):
Herat Central Masjid (Mosque) was designed by Sultan (Ghiyath al-Din Ghori) , but he could not complete it. It is the fifth largest mosque in the world and this masjid (mosque) is from 1400 years ago, its area reaches to 46760 square meters.
Before Islam, this was a temple for monotheistic Aryans, and in the year 29 Hijri, after the people of Herat became Muslim, this temple was converted into Muslims Masjid.
Jihad Museum:
This museum was established as the national Jihad Museum in year (2002) with attention of governor of that time and financial support of one of Herat’s province culture-loving to preserve the values of Jihad, and completed in 2010.
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