A city in western Iran, located in a productive farming region. The capital of Hamadan Province, the city is known for the manufacture of rugs, leather trunks, ceramics, and copper ware. It is the center of the Iranian shellac and leather trade and is commercially important because of its position on the principal route between Baghdad and Tehran. The city of Hamadan has a number of bazaars and several mosques. Also in the city are two tombs of special interest, one claimed to be that of the Biblical Mordecai and Esther, and the other that of the Islamic philosopher-physician Avecina. The city is believed to occupy the site of the city of Ecbatana, capital of the ancient Medes. During World War I, Hamadan was the scene of fighting between Russian and Turk-German forces. The city was held at various times by the Russians, the Turks, and the British before being restored to Iranian government control in 1918. The town's places of interest are: Avicena's tomb and Museum, tomb of Baba Taher (Iranian mystic and wandering dervish who died in 1019 A.D., and Ganjnameh, Hamadan's oldest Achaemenian rock carvings consisting of two huge inscribed panels (twenty lines) carved on two rock faces of some two meters in height, located 5 km. west of the city on the slopes of Mount Alvand. You will visit Ali-Sadr cave there. The most beautiful cave you have ever seen .