Borujerd

Borujerd is a city in and capital of Borujerd County, Lorestan Province in western Iran. Among the existing modern cities in Iran, Borujerd is one of the oldest reported at least since the 9th century. In Sassanid Empire, Borujerd was a small town and region neighboring Nahavand. Gaining more attention during Great Seljuq Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries, Borujerd stood as an industrial, commercial and strategic city in Zagros Mountains until the 20th century. In its golden ages, Borujerd was selected as the state capital of Lorestan and Khuzestan region during Qajar dynasty in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, Borujerd is the second largest city of Lorestan; hence, the major industrial, tourist and cultural center of the region. The city has kept its old architecture and lifestyle mostly through mosques, bazaars and houses built in the Qajar era. Its people are mainly of Lurish descent, but there are a minority of Laks who also live in Borujrd and who are Laki speaking, like Balavand, Ghisavand, Shahivand, Bayrnavand, Ichivand, Kolivand, Jalilavand tribes who inhabit the area of Borujerd township. The Borujerd area has been populated at least since 3000 BC. Medes used its pastures to produce and train thousands of horses each year. However, it owes much of its development to the Jews which came to Persia after they had got close to extinction. Sassanid Empire promoted Borujerd to a city level and built a fire-temple there.