'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎307] (352/714)

TEHERAN
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Pera. Its mQst distinctive features retain an individuality of their
own, differing from what I have noticed anywhere else in Centra
Asia. Jeypore is sometimes extolled as the finest specimen of'a
native city, European in design, but Oriental in structure In!
foim, that is to be seen m the East. The 'rose-red ritxr'
which Sir Edwin Arnold has poured the copious cataract o/a truly
Telegraphese vocabulary struck me, when 1 was in India as 'a
pits r ter T raud b f T h impression is ^
Persian capital Though often showy, it is something more than
gift gmgerbread ; and, while surrendering to an influence which the
most stolid cannot resist, it has not bartered away an originality
of which the most modern would not wish to deprive it
the ^ the r rt . h6m P art of the new town, but outside' the line of
walls, is situated the principal square or public place of
SSfi? 1 " k n 0W V Sthe Tup Meiclan 0r
,, „ , , "P" _ haneh i.e. Gun Square or Artillery Square, from
the fact that it is surrounded by the artillery barracks, and that it
contains a park of rusty cannon, dating from an obsolete past. The
length ot this flue meidan, which is cobble-paved, is 270 vards
its width 120. On the longest, i.e. the northern and southern,'
sides, it is surrounded by low one-storeyed buildings, where the
guns are housed and the men quartered ; on the western side is the
Arsenal, m front of which some twenty-five venerable smooth-bores
-pounders, and wholly useless, rest upon their ancient car-
nages. ihe eastern face is entirely occupied by a fine buildino-
with an ornamental plaster fapade, which is now tenanted by the
Imperial Bank of Persia. In the middle of the square is a great
tank, fenced round by an iron railing, with some cast-iron
statuettes, and with four big guns planted at the corners and
overe with tarpaulins. Its most distinctive features, however
are the gateways by which it is entered or left, and which are re
garded by the Persians as triumphs of modern architectural skill.
e y. are certam ly, as the accompanying illustration will show,
very imposing and original structures, and, with their light arcades
an antastic fronts, present a handsome appearance from a dis-
ance, though a closer scrutiny of the coarse tile-work with which
tiiey are faced is apt to destroy the illusion. Of these gates the
principal and most striking are those which lead from the two
•sou ieru angles of the square, opening on to streets which skirt the
ou er wa of the Ark, or citadel, on either side, the entire intervening-
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