The Museum of the Holy Defence remembers the eight-year Iran–Iraq War through maps, gruesome photos, weapons, letters and intelligence documents from the war. There are brief summaries in English, but you'll need a guide to really interpret what you're seeing in any depth. That's not the case outside, however, where tanks and missile launchers overlook a mock battlefield complete with bunkers, minefield and pontoon-bridges across a waterway.
Museum of the Holy Defence
Southeastern Iran
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.98 MILES
Kerman’s magnificent 'Sartasari' ('end-to-end') Bazaar is one of the oldest and most memorable trading centres in Iran. Its main thoroughfare stretches…
-
Aramgah-e Shah Ne’matollah Vali
21.29 MILES
The physical and spiritual heart of Mahan is filled by the impressive mausoleum complex of dervish-mystic and poet Shah Ne’matollah Vali, who died in 1431…
-
0.86 MILES
The 'contemporary' section of this wide-ranging gallery is a selection of thought-provoking photographic and illustrative social commentary in the rear…
-
2.87 MILES
Where Shohada St approaches the arid crags that abruptly mark the city's eastern edge sits this hefty octagonal structure of mysterious provenance. Some…
-
0.96 MILES
This historic bathhouse is now a museum in which wax dummies illustrate the workings of a traditional hammam. Signage is a little garbled ('AD' dates…
-
22.94 MILES
Arriving at these handsome gardens is like being beamed onto a different planet. One second you’re in the arid semidesert, the next it’s all flowing…
-
1.24 MILES
With prominent blue-and-white-tiled roofs dating from the late Qajar period, this attractive mausoleum is the last resting place of several Kerman…
-
1.18 MILES
The expansive Imam Mosque courtyard covers 6000sqm with tiled iwans (barrel-vaulted halls) on three sides. But it's the main southwest iwan that's the…
Nearby Southeastern Iran attractions
0.55 MILES
This Safavid-era ice house has preserved not just the stepped, conical adobe dome but also the tall mud walls that created winter shade over what would…
0.62 MILES
The hushed Kerman National Library has modestly billed itself as Iran's ‘greatest informatic research centre’, but for non-Farsi speakers it’s the…
0.86 MILES
The 'contemporary' section of this wide-ranging gallery is a selection of thought-provoking photographic and illustrative social commentary in the rear…
0.9 MILES
The gold bazaar is tucked away to the northeast of Ganj Ali Khan Sq. In the middle of its countless jewellery shops is a small square where you'll come…
0.9 MILES
A collection of ancient coins, displayed in a half-dark domed chamber, might be of interest to numismatists but at foreigner prices it seems overpriced …
0.92 MILES
As you walk east into the Bazar-e Sartasari from Tohid Sq, turn left at the first 12-sided charsoq (junction) to find shops selling shiny copper-plated…
0.93 MILES
With an entrance hidden away in the northeastern corner of Ganj Ali Khan Sq, this tiny but lavishly decorated mosque was once the private place of worship…
0.96 MILES
This historic bathhouse is now a museum in which wax dummies illustrate the workings of a traditional hammam. Signage is a little garbled ('AD' dates…