Yazd

Yazd City apital of Yazd province, and 677 km southeast of Tehran. It stands in a long valley which is just over 1,215 meters above sea level; this valley is bounded on the southwest by the extensive Shir Kuh range the highest peak of which is 4.075 meters high; to the northeast rises an isolated massif which is nearly 3,000 meters in height. Until the very recent past, the town used to draw its scanty water supply mainly from the Shir Kuh mountains by means of an elaborate system of Qanats or underground conduits, some of which are as much as 45 km. long. Inhabitants of Yazd excel all other Iranians in the making of Qanats, and the services of the highly skilled muqannis or qanat-makers of Yazd are often in demand in other parts of the country.

Yazd is a microcosm of dilemmas and arts, the troubled social and religious harmonies that invigorate Iran. Zoroastrians have always been populous in Yazd. Even now roughly ten percent of the town's population adhere to this ancient religion, and though their fire temple was turned into a mosque when Arabs invaded Iran, a dignified new fire temple was inaugurated thirteen hundred years later.

The architecture of Yazd is unique, combining a proliferation of those graceful bad-girs (wind towers) seen in central and southern Iran: the houses are surmounted by high turrets with openings oriented toward the dominant winds; these insure the ventilation of the tower parts of the house rather like air-vents on a ship. Enormous domes starting at ground level and also surmounted by air-vents act as protective roofs for deep water-tanks six, eight or ten meters below street level which were reached by stair-cases. The whole town is the color of clay, as memorable as the distinctive ocher of Hormoz. The residential quarters appear almost deserted because of the high walls protecting the houses from the very narrow and labyrinthine alleys crisscrossing the town.

Despite the fact that Yazd dates from Sassanian times, its history has not been fairly established so far. It was conquered by the Arabs in 642, and subsequently became an important station on the caravan routes to Central Asia and India, exporting its silks, textiles and carpets far and wide. It was spared destruction by Chengiz Khan and Tamerlane and flourished in the 14th and 15th centuries, but its commercial success and stability were never translated into political status.

Dowlatabad Garden

Tower of Silence

Yazd Bazar