My 19 day Iranian Azerbaijan circuit - From the Caspian rives to Tabriz and Takht-e Soleiman - Day 4 (late morning and early afternoon) - Qazvin - Chehel Sotoun; Hamdallah Mustawfi's tomb - The 12th of May 2017

The 1510 AD Safavid pavillion attributed to Shah Tahmasb (though uncertainty remains as to its truthfulness), said to have been largely altered during the Qajar period, which now houses a Museum of Calligraphy works still impressed me despite the fact that I had already visited it in 2013.

The high quality of many of its wall paintings I had been mesmerised by then looked now as if in need of some sort of restoration, despite the fact that I was still impressed by some of the details, as I previously had.

I concentrated my visit on the works in display rather than the architectural and artistic aspects of the building, which led me not to go up to the first storey.

Some of us had been looking forward to being to buying some handicrafted souvenirs at the Museum gift shop located somewhere in the surrounding gardens of the Chehel Sotoun, which we ended up not going to due to the tight schedule and the long awaited lunch.

Soon after lunch and before leaving the Qazvin province we visited the Hamdallah Mustawfi's tomb, which is a rather discreet yet noteworthy blue turquoise conical domed structure inside a garden filled with roses. Mustawfi is known as having been a reputed Persian historian, geographer and epic poet of Arab descent, whose sculpted bust stood proudly at one corner of the garden.