Mehdishahr ( fa, مهدی‌شهر, also Romanized as Mehdīshahr; formerly, Sang-e Sar ( fa, سَنگِ سَر, also Romanized as Sang-i-Sar and Sangsar) is a city and capital of

Mehdishahr County Mehdishahr County ( fa, شهرستان مهدی‌شهر) is located in Semnan province, Iran. The capital of the county is Mehdishahr. At the 2006 census, the county's population as a part of Semnan County Semnan County ( fa, شهرستا� ...

, Semnan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 20,581, in 5,473 families. Mehdishahr is located on the southern slopes of the Alborz mountains. Here, the chain of Alborz mountains is very close to the

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

of Dasht-e Kavir. Sangsar, specially the northern part of it, is completely mountainous with cold winters, heavy snowfalls but with mild summers. The distance between Sangsar city and Semnan city is 20 kilometers. The altitude is about 1630 meters above sea level. Mahdishahr-2009

The primary religious belief in the area now is Shi‘ite Islam, but before the

Islamic Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

, there were many followers of the Baháʼí Faith in Sangsar, who had to migrate from the city after the revolution, due to a wide range of persecutions. As for other towns of Iran, the name has thus been changed by the Islamic authorities into Mahdishahr as if to signal its imposed pure Muslim identity. Mahdi is the Shia Muslim hidden Imam and Shahr means town in Persian, so Mahdishahr literally means town of Mahdi. The most important network of roads consists of Semnan to Sangsar to Shahmirzad to Fooladmahale axis which connects these places with the city of Sari. This road connects the two provinces of Mazandaran and Semnan.

History

Sangsar area has an old history which goes back to 1st millennium BC. First inhabitants of Sangsar used to worship moon and stars. There are some theories about Sangsar name; One of them emphasizes about a Saka origin and suggests the name used to be Sakasar or Saksar which means Saka (scythian) settlement.

Notable residents

Majid Derakhshani Majid Derakhshani (Persian: مجید درخشانی) (born 13 September 1957 in Sangesar, Imperial State of Iran) is an Iranian musician and composer. He was born into a family of artists from the Iranian province Semnan, Sangesar. Subsequen ...

, musician and composer * Parviz Sabeti, deputy of

SAVAK SAVAK ( fa, ساواک, abbreviation for ''Sâzemân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniat-e Kešvar'', ) was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prime ...

Sister cities

Sangesar has signed the treaty of city twinning with the following cities: * Saskatoon, Canada *

Mörön Mörön ( mn, Мөрөн;, lit=river), also spelled Murun, is the administrative center of Khövsgöl Aimag (province) in northern Mongolia. Before 1933, Khatgal had been the aimag capital. It has 12,286 families and a population of 46,918, an ...

, Mongolia

References

Sangsar district, by: Taghi Taheri, Plan & Budget Bureau of Semnan, Semnan March 1977

References

{{Mehdishahr County Populated places in Mehdishahr County Cities in Semnan Province

History

Notable residents

Sister cities

See also

References

References