Afif-Abad Garden of Shiraz or Golshan garden nowadays is under the control of Islamic Republic of Iran’s army. Here is another old garden in Shiraz with area of 127000 m2 and was made in Safavid dynasty and used to be a promenade place for kings. Afif-Abad Garden was bought by Mirza Ali khan Qavam ol-Molk. He rebuilt the garden and also built a 2-floor mansion in the middle of the garden. At Pahlavi’s age this garden was granted to Mohammad Reza’s wife. After that in 1340 SH the army bought this place at an auction.
The royal palace or mansion
As I said in the previous paragraph there is a 2-floor building in the middle of the garden. The mansion contains almost 30 room and halls. The first floor is dedicated to the military museum which we will talk about that in the next title in this essay. On the second floor there is also another museum which is called Ebrat museum. There are several parts in this floor like conference room, cloakroom, seat room, study and dining room. In the middle of the aisle there is a hall with a wooden ceiling and walls and the walls are decorated with beautiful paintings.
Museum
In 1370 SH part of the mansion changed into a museum of old weapons which were used by Iranian army in different ages and different wars. This museum is one of the biggest military museums in the middle east because ten types of old guns and weapons are being exhibited in there.
Traditional teahouse
In terms of architecture this part is built according to Iranian architecture principles. On the walls you can see intriguing paintings regarding mythical characters or stories in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh like Zal & Simorgh or Rostam and Esfandiar myth.
Traditional bath
The traditional bath contains two pools, the warm water pool and cold-water pool. On the walls a painting is painted which pertains to mythical stories like Farhad in Bisotun mountain and Khosro Parviz.
The graden
Like other Iranian gardens the architectural method, which is exclusively to Persian garden, is utilized here. I mean a mansion in the middle of the garden that conveys the harmony between human and nature. The tall palm and citrus trees with stunning gardening layout gives you an inspiring feeling when you visit and walk inside there.