virtual tourism

Through the dedicated virtual tourism page of Masjid Suleiman municipality in virtual reality, you can visit the tourist attractions of Masjid Suleiman city without being physically present. You can also see all the tourist attractions with descriptions on the MasjedSoleyman tourist attractions page.

By clicking on the icon, you can view the desired places in 360 degrees in full screen, on any platform or browser on your mobile phone, desktop computer or tablet. 

If you are interested in certain tourist attractions, you can send the name of the desired place  in the comments section or through the contact page, so that 360-degree photos of that place will be added to this page in the shortest possible time.

In addition, this page will be updated continuously and other places will be added. 

Suleiman Mosque is a historical city located in the mountains of Zagros in Khuzestan province. This beautiful city dates back to the Elamite civilization and is one of the pioneer oil drilling cities in Iran. In addition to oil, the sights of Suleiman Mosque are among the lesser-known historical and natural features of this city.

Well number one

Well No. 1 is the name of the first oil well in the Middle East, which is located in the area of ​​MasjedSoleyman in Khuzestan province. The first oil well in the Middle East reached oil in this city in an area called Naftun field in Dare Khersoon (Bear’s Valley) on June 5, 1987. The drilling of this well started in 1286 solar year and ended in 1287 solar year. This well is 360 meters (1179 feet) deep, from which 36,000 liters (equivalent to 8,000 gallons) of oil were extracted daily. The driving force of the oil extraction machines from this well was supplied by steam and was known as STEAM. This well is known as “well number one”, and it is currently located in the center of Masjid Suleiman, next to the number one area, as a museum under the supervision of the National Company of Southern Oil-bearing Regions. William Knox Darcy, (October 11, 1849 – May 1, 1917) was one of the main founders of the oil and petrochemical industries in Iran. In 1900, he signed an agreement with Henry Drummond Wolff, Antoine Ketabchi Khan and Cote for oil exploration in Iran. Their negotiations with Muzafaruddin Shah Qajar started in 1901. At first, an amount of 20,000 pounds was proposed for exploration in one million two hundred thousand square kilometers, and in case of oil discovery, this concession would be taken from Shah Qajar for a period of sixty years. In contrast, the Iranian government allocated 16% of the company’s annual profit. Of course, the British government harvested Iran’s huge oil reserves for many years after Darcy’s syndicate contract ended, and the British government received much more profit than what Darcy got.

The ancient hill of Kalge ​​Zarin 

Tembi Recreational Dam

Tembi recreational dam with a beautiful view, which is located next to Tembi bazaar power plant, and with a spectacular view, it is a beautiful place for tourists and local people of MasjedSoleyman, so that on holidays, a large number of citizens can be seen in this area for a rest. For several hours, he observed that they have hit the heart of nature. This beautiful recreational area is located 5 km south of MasjedSoleyman, next to Tembi Bazaar.

Tembi Forest Park

Tembi Forest Park, which is located next to the recreational dam of this area, is a very beautiful place with a natural and beautiful view, along with the pavilions built in this area, it is a memorable place for sightseeing. This area is located 6 kilometers south of Masjid Suleiman, next to the Tembi power plant.

Bay Bayan Refinery

The footsteps of Imam Reza

A shrine among the mountains in Tembi area of ​​MasjedSoleyman city, which is said to have been passed by Imam Reza (a.s.) when he entered Iran.

Tembi Electric Factory

In the middle of World War I, i.e. in 1917, the idea of ​​building a large and suitable factory for MasjedSoleyman was born. For this purpose, the side of the Tembi river was dedicated to this work, because at that time gas turbines had not yet been invented and they had to use steam turbines to generate electricity, which requires a lot of water consumption.

Tembi power generation plant consists of two parts, old and new, each of which is described below. It is worth noting that the information presented in these two sections is taken from the weekly newspaper Akhbar Haftan MasjedSoleyman in the years 1998 and 1999, and the statistics and figures presented are related to this period of time.

A) Old part

The old part of the factory has a capacity of nine thousand kilowatts and was built as follows:

The first part of the machinery of this machine, which consists of two steam turbines with a capacity of 1500 kilowatts each and made by the Brown Boveri factory in Switzerland, was ordered in 1920 and in It was installed in 1922. Later, two more steam turbines, each with a capacity of 3000 kW, were ordered to the English Electric factory in 1925 and 1929 and were installed in 1927 and 1930, respectively, and added to the capacity of the first factory. The amount of water used for the factory The electricity and the oil pump house, which is built in its vicinity, consumes approximately eight hundred thousand gallons per hour from the Tembi River.

b) New section

The new part of the factory, which is located in a modern and equipped building, was created in 1948 when they thought of expanding the old factory. In that year, two gas turbines each with a capacity of 4000 kilowatts were ordered to Brown Boveri factory in Switzerland and these two turbines were installed in 1955 and 1956. The electricity capacity of this factory was used to run the factories etc.

In addition to the mentioned cases, there are some statistics and figures about this factory that are important in terms of the historical investigation of this factory.

Armenian cemetery

With the successful drilling of the first oil well in the Middle East in MasjedSoleyman, the flood of migration of various ethnic groups in search of work to this city begins, and the Armenians also form a small organization in the community of seventy-two nations of MasjedSoleyman, and this small cemetery is a reminder of the presence of people who have been there for a long time. They have moved from this city. The history of this place, which is located in Naftun neighborhood and next to Gulzar Shahada, dates back to the last 100 years (oil exploration era) and is the burial place of Armenians who came to this area from different places to work. Some of the tombstones in the cemetery are granite, and some of them have the sign of the cross, violin, etc. . . The role is closed.

Hill of unknown martyrs

The Unknown Martyrs recreational cultural complex, which is considered one of the major projects of the MasjedSoleyman municipality, is a place with a spectacular view and unique furniture, and has a children’s park, beautiful pavilions and terraced green space in Kanal Al-Man, commemorating the 13-year-old martyr of the MasjedSoleyman, Behnam Mohammadi. It can be a good pastime for guests and tourists.

Bibi Yan Hill of Unknown Martyrs

Cemetery of foreigners

Cemeteries are the most historical geographical parts of any region. The importance of cemeteries is clear and significant even in identifying the ancient and pre-historic periods of the world, and in later periods and contemporary history as well, these historical places have a special place in examining the background and past of the land where they are located.

The historical site known as “Foreigner’s Cemetery” is located at the entrance of the city of MasjedSoleyman and in the north direction, after the Islamic Azad University square and on the hill overlooking the village of “Zaman Abad”. This direction can be one of the oil tourism stations in the city of Olinha as a seemingly silent witness but in fact it is vivid and clear.

With the discovery of oil in Masjid Suleiman and the establishment of the oil industry, technical experts of different nationalities, especially English, were employed by the British and Iranian Oil Company. The number of these employees (except for Indian workers) varies in different sources. The number of European employees in 1910 is estimated to be around 40 to 80 people, and the number of employees of other nationalities is between 150 and 300 people. The number of different nationalities gradually decreases after the 1933 agreement.

This documented statistic is from the information contained in the second volume of The history of the British petroleum company.

Jame mosque number one

Javida fire temple (Sermasjid)

Ateshkdeh or Sarmasajed temple is one of the most important historical and ancient places of Khuzestan province, which is located in the northeast of Masjid Suleiman city. The Eternal Fire Temple (front of the mosque) located in Suleiman Mosque is a building belonging to the 7th century BC, which, according to some experts, inspired the architects to build Persepolis. The architectural type of this building is Urartu’s eternal fire temple, the most important characteristic of which is not to use mortar and to put dry stone on top of dry stone. According to the writings of professor Girshman, a French archaeologist in the book “Iran from the Beginning to Islam”, Persepolis was also built using the same model.

This temple, where a fire was always lit in the distant past, overlooks the edge of the Sarm Mosque, which, according to historians, was the seat of government of the Persians.

The fire temple of Sarmsajd was built by the order of one of the great Achaemenid kings and each of the large mineral stones used in it weighs 4 to 5 tons. No type of mortar was used to build the walls of this temple, and due to the frequent earthquakes in Suleiman Mosque, there is a possibility of these dry stones falling.

The altar of the fire temple belongs to the 7th-8th century BC, which includes a platform measuring 20 x 25 feet. In the eastern part of the altar, the part that is now the fire temple was built for the worship of Iranians. The western side of Iran is sacred to Greek gods, and on the western side of the fire temple, there are 3 temples dedicated to 3 ancient gods, 2 of which are Heraclius and Athena.

Cham mill

Dasht Cham Asiyab is located 5 kilometers away from the city of MasjedSoleyman and on the road of Indika. Cham Asiyab welcomes many guests from all over the province due to its many springs and gardens in the spring season.

Berdanshande Temple

Berdanshande Temple  belongs to the Achaemenid period and is located in Berdanshande, 16 km from MasjedSoleyman, Shahid Abbaspur Dam Road. This work was registered as one of Iran’s national works on March 2, 1327 with registration number 372.

Berdshande is the oldest Iranian open-air place of worship and dates back to the Achaemenid period, where religious rituals were performed in the open air for centuries. It is about 700 meters long and 2500 meters wide.

This wide and long complex includes three parts: the palace where the chief resides, the prayer hall (in the east of the palace) and a town in the north.

Its building belongs to the Persian and Achaemenid periods, and the reliefs on it date back to the Parthian era. Several objects found during the excavation show that the main foundation was built in the Achaemenid period. Therefore, this is the most ancient place of worship of ancient Iranian religion.

Kushk Island

The entertainment and dream island of Kushk is one of the sights of MasjedSoleyman and it is located in the heart of Nilgoon Lake of Shahid Abbaspur Dam. This tourist area can be placed in the group of one of the most beautiful islands in the country due to the presence of diverse vegetation, colorful flowers and diverse trees. Perhaps the beauty and color of the nature surrounding this amazing island has doubled its popularity among tourists.

Masjid Suleiman dam

Godar Landar dam is built on Karun river in Andika city and Khuzestan province. Godarlander dam with a height of 177 meters is a type of earthen dam.

One of the prominent features of this dam is its overflow sector valves, which are considered the largest in the world. Also, the power plant of this dam is considered the largest current power plant in the country. The capacity of this power plant is 2000 MW, which has been implemented in the two phases of the first 1000 MW and 1000 MW of the development plan. The construction of this dam started in the summer of 1370 and ended in 1380. The first phase of its power plant was put into operation in 2008 and 2009, and the phase of its development plan was also put into operation in 2009 and 2008. The annual energy production of this underground power plant is 3700 million kilowatt hours. In 2013, Godar Lander power plant won the first place in the country’s hydroelectric energy production for the third year in a row.

The project of water supply to the city of Masjid Suleiman is one of the important projects that have been carried out on the side of this project. For this purpose, a 1,160-meter long tunnel has been dug and a 2,700-meter long water transfer pipeline has been built from the dam lake to the drinking water catchment of Masjid Suleiman city.

Shahid Abbaspur dam

Shahid Abbaspur Dam or Karun 1 Dam is one of the largest dams in Iran, which was built on the Karun River in the south-west of Iran. This dam is located in Khuzestan province and 50 kilometers northeast of Masjid Sulaiman city. Karon 1 Dam is a double arched concrete. The height of the crest of the dam is 188 meters and its crest length is 385 meters. This dam is one of the first dams built in Iran and the Middle East, the construction of its body started in 1344 and continued until 1354.

Tembi Forest Park

Tembi Forest Park, which is located next to the recreational dam of this area, is a very beautiful place with a natural and beautiful view, along with the pavilions built in this area, it is a memorable place for sightseeing. This area is located 6 kilometers south of MasjedSoleyman, next to the Tembi power plant.

Shimbar plain

Shimbar plain or Shirin Bahar is the border of Khuzestan and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces, which is located 75 kilometers from MasjedSoleyman and is one of the most attractive recreational spots of this city with ten thousand scattered rural and nomadic population. One of the sights of the Shimbar plain is Qalandaran mountain, which was a refuge for rebels and opponents of the governments of the time. The plain is full of ruby ​​grapes that have no private owner.

Shirin Bahar has a very beautiful, pristine and rare nature that is unique in its kind. With the combination of natural scenery, historical monuments and ethnic culture, this area has the potential to become a tourist destination.

Hotel Lamerdon Il

Masjid Suleiman Municipality 

Photography, compilation and editing: Amir Heydari