Sine (Sanandaj)

Sanandaj (which Kurds call Sine) was founded in the seventeenth century as the capital of the important Kurdish Ardalan emirate. Its Ardalanian princes built a great palace that still stands in the city centre. It was a centre of learning and letters: poets such as Mawlawî Tawagozî and Mestûre Erdelan — the first Kurdish woman to write classical Kurdish poetry — were born here. Today Sine is the capital of the Iranian Kurdistan province, a city of 400,000. It is famous for the tanbur — the ancient Kurdish lute — and for the bazaars selling hand-woven Kurdish rugs. It was inscribed in UNESCO's 'Creative Cities' list in 2019 for Kurdish weaving. It took a leading part in the 2022–23 'Woman, Life, Freedom' uprising.