Travels, Impressions, Characters
  • Home
  • Iran
    • Tehran >
      • Tehran City
      • Grand Bazaar
      • Darband
      • Tajrish
      • Friday Bazaar
    • Esfahan >
      • Abyane
      • Esfahan City
      • Esfahan Bazaar
      • Kashan
      • Kashan Bazaar
    • Yazd
    • Kavir Desert >
      • Damghan, Semnan, Kavir
      • In the Desert
      • Garmeh
      • On the Road
      • Kaal-e-Sar-Dar
      • Esfahk and Nayband
    • Hormozgan
    • Sistan and Baluchestan >
      • Chabahar
      • Gulf of Oman
      • To Zahedan
      • Khajeh, Ghale Now
    • Mazandaran
    • Fars
    • Khuzestan
    • Kish
  • London
    • West End 1
    • West End 2
    • East End 1
    • East End 2
    • Regents Canal
    • Notting Hill & Paddington
    • Camden & Hampstead
    • In Between
    • Christmas in London
    • Magnificent Seven
  • Havana/Cuba
  • On The Go
Iran / Yazd Province
Picture

Yazd (Province)

Picture
Yazd, capital of the Yazd Province in the centre of Iran, is a desert city and the centre of Zoroastrian culture in Iran. Its unique architecture, besides beautiful garden-houses, is reflected in old windcatchers and water- and ice storages that to this day keep the air and water in the houses clean, cool and fresh. Because of its climate and culture, it has one of the largest networks of qanats in the world — underground water networks that carried water into desert cities from hundreds of kilometres away.

Yazd

Picture
Picture
Dowlat-Abad House and Garden in Yazd was built in the 18th century and was once the residence of the Persian regent, Karim Khan Zand. It is a registered UNESCO garden with a small pavillion featuring exquisite stained-glass windows. 

The windcatcher building above features common Zoroastrian symbols of light. 

The pictures below illustrate other angles from Dowlat-Abad gardenhouse, a Zoroastrian fire temple, another gardenhouse now turned into a hotel, a building that once served as a prison for Alexander the Great, the Jameh mosque of Yazd, and view over the city from above one of the mosque's towers. 


click to enlarge pictures
Picture
Picture
Picture

Burial Sites

The Zoroastrian Towers of Silence situated just outside of Yazd, were traditionally used as burial grounds where bodies were arranged on the towers and left to decay on the ground. While the towers are not in use any more, they can be visited.  
Picture
Picture

In the Desert Close to Yazd

About 70 kilometres from Yazd, there is a mountain shrine sacred to Zoroastrians, called Pir-e Sabz or Chak-Chak. The legend goes that Shahrbanoo, a daughter of Yazdgerd III the King of Persia at the time of the Arab invasion, flees into the desert and finds refuge and water inside the mountain, invisible to the eyes of Arabs that had chased her to the mountain.  
Picture
click to enlarge pictures

THE Bazaar OF Yazd

Picture
click to enlarge pictures
Picture

Meybod

Meybod, the second major city in the Yazd province, is another ancient desert city with many points of architectural interest from various periods, including Narin castle which is a pre-Islamic building overlooking the city.  
Picture
click to enlarge pictures
(C) of all photos: Alexander Schatten
Contact/Feedback
More about Alexander Schatten: Personal Homepage
Follow me on Twitter: alex_buzz
Check out my German Blog: (an)sichten
  • Home
  • Iran
    • Tehran >
      • Tehran City
      • Grand Bazaar
      • Darband
      • Tajrish
      • Friday Bazaar
    • Esfahan >
      • Abyane
      • Esfahan City
      • Esfahan Bazaar
      • Kashan
      • Kashan Bazaar
    • Yazd
    • Kavir Desert >
      • Damghan, Semnan, Kavir
      • In the Desert
      • Garmeh
      • On the Road
      • Kaal-e-Sar-Dar
      • Esfahk and Nayband
    • Hormozgan
    • Sistan and Baluchestan >
      • Chabahar
      • Gulf of Oman
      • To Zahedan
      • Khajeh, Ghale Now
    • Mazandaran
    • Fars
    • Khuzestan
    • Kish
  • London
    • West End 1
    • West End 2
    • East End 1
    • East End 2
    • Regents Canal
    • Notting Hill & Paddington
    • Camden & Hampstead
    • In Between
    • Christmas in London
    • Magnificent Seven
  • Havana/Cuba
  • On The Go