Herat, Florence of Asia.

The golden age of Herat was the time of the Timurids, in the 14th and 15th centuries, when the city was known as the "Florence of Asia". The best painters, the best architects, the best musicians, all came from Herat. "In Herat if you stretch out your feet you are sure to kick a poet," said Ali Sher Nawai, a statesman who was himself a poet and artist. It was at this time that the beautiful palaces and mosques which still adorn the city were built. Notable among these are the Musalla complex, built in the late 1400s by Queen Gawarshad. The city is the burial place of Afghanistan's greatest mystic poet, Khaja Abdullah Ansari. Herat was formerly also renowned for its bazaars - the city is a major carpet-making centre.

Breadbasket

Herat, the city considered to have the most fertile soil in central Asia, was first settled 5,000 years ago. The ancient Greek historian Heroditus called it the breadbasket of the region. "The world is like an ocean," it was said in ancient times, "and in the ocean is a pearl, and the pearl is Herat." When Alexander the Great came to Herat in the 3rd century BC, the city was already a prosperous place. Later it became the greatest of the cities of the ancient Persian kingdom of Khorasan.
Source: BBC