The city of Shiraz, in the province of Fars, is renowned for the tombs of poets Hafez and Saadi. Hafez’s marble tombstone, inscribed with his verses, lies inside a small pavilion built in 1953. The mausoleum grounds include a teahouse set around a rectangular pool. The tomb of Saadi stands in a picturesque garden. The current monument was built in 1952, replacing an earlier, simpler structure.

Saadi is sometimes called the "Shakespeare of Iran". He won fame for Golestan, or The Rose Garden. It contains stories about kings and ordinary people. Most of the stories teach a moral. Hafez wrote some 700 lyrical poems about love, religion, and human behaviour. Many Iranians still use his collected works as an oracle.