Isfahan

Malik-Shah I (1055-1092) was the third Seljuk sultan, under whom the empire reached its greatest extent and its administrative and cultural height. His reign produced the Jalali solar calendar, and it ended with the deaths of both his vizier Nizam al-Mulk and himself within weeks.

The Safavid Dynasty (1501-1736 CE) transformed Persia into a Shi'a empire, establishing Twelver Shi'ism as the state religion and presiding over a remarkable cultural, artistic, and architectural renaissance that shaped Iranian identity for centuries to come.