Lar, Iran

Lar is a city in the Central District of Larestan County, Fars province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Lar's inhabitants are Larestani people.

Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 51,961 in 12,891 households. The following census in 2011 counted 65,451 people in 16,528 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 62,045 people in 18,578 households.

History
The city was originally called Lar after the person who had first established the city. Lar (لاڑ) is the name of one of Shahnameh's famous heroes. Around 16th and 17th centuries, Lar was considered to be a major stop along the road to the Persian Gulf.

Larestani people migrated to Arab states in the Persian Gulf in significant figures around the 1600s, such as Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Some have surname as "Lari" or "Al Lari" along with many other family and tribal names.

Climate
Lar has a hot desert climate (BWh).Snowfall in Lar is a very rare event.In February 2017, it snowed in this city after 50 years.

Civilization
Lar city is divided into two areas:


 * New City, called Shahr-e Jadid,
 * Old City, called Shahr-e Qadim.

The New City, which was constructed after the historical earthquake of 1960, now accommodates the main population and is considered to be modern in terms of civil and transport engineering (e.g. dead-ends are very rare).

The Old City contains the Bazaar of Qaisariye, a pre-Safavid dynasty creation, that was proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on August 9, 2007.

Transport
As the Department of Roads & transport & some other centres are situated in city of Lar, an interesting aspect of it is building & construction of a modern expressway between the city of Lar and a police station 10 km from the city of Gerash, but in the cost of cutting most spending from other town & villages' roads in the region & it costs human life in the road accidents in the regions which happens almost daily & have high fatality rates. The 6-lane expressway has been fully upgraded with high luminous lighting and high quality pavement to facilitate the transportation needs of people of Lar town but the cost is paid by cutting almost all other funds for repairs & making new roads in the area who are governed by Lar Road & Transport Department in Lar.

Lar has an airport with daily flights to domestic and international destinations including Tehran, Dubai, Kuwait, Doha, Sharjah, etc.