LAR

lar, a city of persia, capital of laristan, in 27° 30 n., 53° 58 e., 180 m. from shiraz and 75 from the coast at bander lingah. it stands at the foot of a mountain range in an extensive plain covered with palm trees, and was once a flourishing place, but a large portion is in ruins, and the population which early in the 18th century numbered 50,000 is reduced to 8000. there are still some good buildings, of which the most prominent are the old bazaar consisting of four arcades each 180 ft. long, 14 broad and 22 high, radiating from a domed centre 30 ft. high, an old stone mosque and many cisterns. the crest of a steep limestone hill immediately behind the town and rising 150 ft. above the plain is crowned by the ruins of a castle formerly deemed impregnable. just below the castle is a well sunk 200 ft. in the rock. the tower-flanked mud wall which surrounds the town is for the most part in ruins.