Qazvin (historically also rendered as Kazvin, Kasvin, and Casbin in the West) is a city in Iran, some 150 km northwest of Tehran, in Qazvin Province. It is at an altitude of about 1800 meters above sea level, and is a city with a cool but dry climate being south of the rugged Alborz range.

The city was the location of a former capital of the Persian Empire and contains over 2000 architectural and archeological sites. It is a provincial capital today that has been an important cultural center throughout history.

Qazvin has sometimes been of central importance at important moments of Iranian history. Captured by invading Arabs (644 AD) and destroyed by Genghis Khan (13th century), the Safavid monarchs made Qazvin the capital of the Safavid empire in 1548 only to have it moved to Isfahan in 1598.
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