Iran

The former official royal Qajar complex in Tehran, rebuilt in its current form in 1865, a collection of eight palatial buildings surrounded by gardens and walls, displaying the fusion of Iranian decorative traditions with European arts that characterised the Qajar period.

A UNESCO-listed desert city founded on the central Iranian plateau, recognised since 2017 for its centuries of adaptation to an arid environment through windcatchers, qanats, yakhchals and Zoroastrian fire temples — the historic city has been largely spared the modern redevelopment that has transformed most other Iranian cities.

A vast hyperarid desert in southeastern Iran covering about 51,800 square kilometres, recorded as the hottest land surface on Earth at 70.7°C, and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 for its exceptional geological and landform diversity including the towering kalut sand ridges.

A monumental Safavid-era public square in Isfahan, built between 1598 and 1629 under Shah Abbas I, surrounded by the Shah Mosque, Ali Qapu Palace, Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and the entrance to the Grand Bazaar — one of the finest planned urban spaces in the Islamic world.

The first capital of the Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BC near his victory over the Median king, and containing the tomb of Cyrus — one of the oldest and most significant monuments of ancient Iran.

The ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, founded by Darius I around 515 BC and destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330 BC, whose ruins near Shiraz preserve one of the ancient world's most refined palace complexes.