Khatam
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Khatam is a noble and antique handicraft of Iran which is the art of decorating surfaces of the objects with small triangles made of ceramics. Its various designs consist of regular geometric shapes. These geometric shapes are formed through putting the small triangles next to each other. The triangles are made of various kinds of wood, metal and bone. The more delicate and tinier are the triangles, the more valuable the Khatam would be. In the plan of a Khatam, the smallest geometric unit consists of at least three triangles and the biggest one consists of at most four triangles. The value of Khatam is determined by the attention and care which is paid by the master who prepares it, the elegance which can be perceived only through a sensitive look.

Khatam
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On the other hand, various woods like ebony, walnut tree, jujube, betel, cypress and pine and other objects like shell, special kind of yarn, glue and solvent are used in making Khatam. Khatam was previously used to decorate the tombs, doors of religious and non-religious buildings, rostrums, rehal of Holy Quran, chairs, tables and other objects like mirrors but today it is mostly used on decorative objects.

Khatam
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Some of the Iranian Khatam works remained from various historical eras can be seen in some buildings like Atiq Mosque of Shiraz and doors of Mirror Hall in Golestan Palace in Tehran. There are also some other works which are kept in Iran National Museum.

Khatam
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Isfahan, Shiraz and Tehran are the most important centers of making and selling Khatam.

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Ghormeh Sabzi, Stew (Khoresh)
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The history of cooking stew in Iran dates back to a long time ago and in the cookbooks remained from Safavid Dynasty, the recipes of several kinds of stews can be found. The common characteristic of all the Iranian stews is the existence of meat along with bean, vegetables and herbs. It is worth mentioning that the stew made of chicken, instead of meat, is called “Mosama”.

Among the most popular and national Iranian stews are Ghormeh sabzi, Gheimeh and Fesenjān. There are some stews which are cooked seasonally like quince, pumpkin, rhubarb, Cirsium vulgare and okra. There are some native stews like Almond Slices Stew, cabbage stew and Gheimeh Nesar (a kind of stew with almonds and fried onions; a specialty of Qazvin province).

The diversity of stews in Iran is very high and one specific stew can be cooked in various ways depending on the tastes of the people and different seasonings used in with the aim of marinating the stew and removing extra fat.

It is interesting to know that some stews are ritually used in Iran, Gheimeh is the most important one of them which is mostly used in mourning ceremonies of Muharram.

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Partico of Kaboud Mosque (Blue Mosque) – Tabriz Province, Iran
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Mosque is a holy place where Muslims worship God and it is also one of the most important buildings in Islamic architecture of Iran. The first mosques had a very simple architecture and they were mainly built in a square or rectangular shape whose walls were made of clay and the direction of mosques was toward Qibla.

Based on the archeological and historical researches, the oldest mosques of Iran are Shush Mosque and Jameh Mosque of Fahraj. The simple plan of mosques include minaret and semi-dome. The second oldest mosque of Iran is Tarikhaneh Mosque in Damghan city which was built at the beginning of 10th century. Shiraz Jameh Mosque, Jameh Mosque of Nā’īn and Neyriz Mosque in Fars Province were built during 10th and 11th centuries.

Seljuq Dynasty (11^th and 12^th centuries) is known as a time when mosque building flourished in different cities of Iran, there are some mosques made of bricks which can be considered the mementos of this era. They followed some of the instructions of Sassanid era such as Four-Iwan design (Chahar Iwani) in mosque building. Some of the mosque built in Seljuq era are Jameh mosques of Isfahan, Ardestan, Bersiyan, Borujerd, Ardabil.

Jam-e Mosque of Yazd – Yaz Province, Iran
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The construction of huge buildings with their large domes became common in Ilkhanate Era (13^th and 15^th centuries) which can be abundantly observed in the architecture of the mosques. To make the buildings more attractive, they decorated the facades with long and thin frames and sharp crescents. The Jameh mosques of Yazd, Varamin and Oshtorjan were built in this era.

Timurid Empire (14^th century) witnessed the flourishment of decorating mosques with tiles. The mosques were mainly built using Four-Iwan methods with tall iwans and portals having beautiful muqarnas. Building domes which were like Kulah Khud (the helmets used in ancient western Asia for battle which were bowl-shaped and pointed) was one of the salient characteristics of this era. The most significant and famous mosques of this era were Goharshad (Mashhad), Blue (Tabriz) and Jameh mosque of Kashan.

Blue Mosque in Tabriz is an indoor mosque without any yard, it is called turquoise of Islam.

The glory and resplendence of architecture and specially mosque building in Iran was observed in Safavid Dynasty (16^th – 18^th centuries). Some instances of the mosque in this era are Imam (or Shah) Mosque and Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque. In this era, the patterns used for mosque building were Four-Iwan design and large domes.

Kabud Gonbad Mosque (in Sarakhs) and Vakil Mosque (in Shiraz) are the memorials of Afsharid and Zand dynasties (18^th century).

Mihrab of Nasir Ol Molk Mosque – Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran
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Although the traces of Safavid mosque building style can be observed in Qajar Dynasty (18^th century), it is not as glorious as theirs. Also, the European art and decorations were used in this era. Imam Mosque of Semnan is an absolute example of Four-Iwan mosque which is a representative of Qajar architecture as well. Some of these examples are Shah Mosque (Tehran), Sepahsalar or Motahari Mosque (Tehran), Nasir al-Mulk Mosque (Shiraz) and Agha Bozorg Mosque and school (Kashan).

It is interesting to know that Now or Atabak Mosque in Shiraz and Ard-Khorma (Flour and Date) Mosque in Ardakan are the largest and smallest mosques of Iran respectively.

Iranian Architecture Infographic / Historic Imam Mosque – Isfahan, Isfahan Province, Iran
Photo by Alexandre Rotenberg / Shutterstock
Infographic by Negar Ganji

Components of a Mosque

All the mosques have some common components regardless of their construction style including: Courtyard, Iwan (a rectangular hall), Portico, Minaret, Dome, Shabestan (an underground space) and Mihrab (semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the Qibla). Each of these components can be removed from the components of a mosque except Mihrab which is the most important part of a mosque and shows the direction of Qibla.

Courtyard

courtyard or “Sahn” is a common element in religious buildings and residences, used in urban and rural settings which is called Mian Sara as well. The Iwan is located around Mian Sara.

Iwan

it is a sitting room which is higher than its surrounding spaces and is usually built in the exterior parts of the buildings. The Iwan of Iranian mosque is usually decorated with muqarnas.

Portico

it is an indoor space having pillars which is built between two sides of courtyard or Mian Sara of the mosque. Its entrance is opened to courtyard and connects the entrance of the mosque to the Shabestan.

Minaret

the first minaret was built in 10th century. It was primarily built as a single construction but later, it became a paired element in the architecture of the mosques.

Dome

the hemispherical ceilings in the traditional architecture of Iran which are decorated with bricks or tiles.

Mihrab

it is a semicircular niche in the wall of mosque which indicates the Qibla and is the turning point of a mosque.

Shabestan

it is an indoor space with uniform and parallel pillars which is connected to the courtyard of the mosque wherein people can say prayers. Some of them lack pillars.

Shabestan of Vakil Mosque – Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran
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Different Iranian Mosques

Generally, there are two kinds of mosque in Iran: the mosques with Shabestan or with Iwan, of course, the crucial role of Chahartaqi mosques (an architectural unit consisted of four barrel vaults) cannot be ignored.

Shabestan Mosques

different parts of these mosques are an indoor area next to Qibla, central yard and platforms.

Chahartaqi Mosques

the mosques having a quadrilateral plan and domical ceiling including four pillars and a domical vault are called Chahartaqi mosques.

Iwan Mosques

in 11th century, using pillars was no longer common and the architecture style changed from Shabestani to Iwan design. Iwan is a component which is used in this style and the mosques are named based on the architectural style and number of Iwans used in building them e.g. One-Iwan, Two-Iwan, Four-Iwan and the combination of Chahartaq and Iwan. In Two-Iwan mosques, the Iwans were built in front of each other.

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Sultan Amir Ahmad Historic Bath – Kashan, Isfahan Province, Iran
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Wash and cleanliness are very important concepts among the Iranian in a way that both religion and mythology have paid attention to them and Jamshid the mythological king of Iran commanded to build the first bath. Besides, there are some proofs in archeological excavations of Chogha Zanbil which show the existence of bath in second millennium before the birth of Christ. Also, in some archeological investigations, it was revealed that there were some constructions in Sassanid Empire which were associated with baths. By the advent of Islam in Iran in 7th century and its emphasis on cleanliness, building baths found more importance. In the sources remained from different Islamic centuries of Iran, the significance of bath and its related customs can be observed.

Ganjali-Khan Historic Bath – Kerman, Kerman Province, Iran
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The Structure of Iranian Bath

The Iranian baths have one common structure and what is considerably important in building them is to minimize the significant temperature changes. Hence, the baths were build lower than ground level to preserve interior heat of the bath. Another action was to build spiral corridors between the entrance of the bath and “Dehliz” (a dark space between the corridor and dressing room) which prevented the exit of heat. Dressing room or “Beyne” was a well-decorated space in which people prepared themselves for taking bath, it was a semi-warm and moderately dry environment. The next space was called “Garmkhane” which was a completely warm and moist room. Passing from a semi-warm environment to a warm one or vice versa was that sudden change of temperature which must have been moderated as much as possible, it happened through spiral corridors which were called “Miandar” (a dividing space between the warm and cool parts of baths). There were one or two platforms in Miandar wherein people could use “gamucha” (a traditional thin, coarse cotton towel) and placed their bathroom stuff like soap, shampoo and so on. After passing Miandar, people reached Garmkhane, this room was divided into different spaces such as a place for using washing mitt, a place for cleaning yourself and a pool for washing your body which was called “Khazane”. Around Garmkhane of the old public baths there were some relatively deep arcades which were similar to stalls equipped with platforms, they were called “Shahneshin” and also there were one or two small rooms called “Khalvat” which were used only for particular people. The Iranian traditional baths lacked shower and were mainly equipped with “Khazineh” (a large water-filled basin). The fully equipped baths had 3 types of Khazineh for using hot water, cold water and lukewarm water. The thermal reservoir which was called “Toon” was located beneath Khazineh, the heat was spread in Garmkhane through small channels which were under ground and called “Gorbero”. The lighting of bath was provided from the ceiling and through an object which was called “Jaam Khaneh”, it was made of glass and its thickness varied depending on the heat or cold of the environment.

The Pahneh Bath (Pahne and Hazrat) – Semnan, Iran
Photo by Hessam Mirrahimi

Applications of the Baths

In the past, in addition to the main application of baths i.e. a place for washing yourself, people gathered there with the purpose of consulting and sorting out social issues. Besides, different ceremonies such as “Hanabandan” (bridal henna party), wedding bath and the bath after giving birth to a baby were held in the baths as well. In some neighborhoods which had only one bath, there was a specific schedule in which some days it was used by women and the other days, the men were allowed to use it. In the neighborhoods having more than one bath, there were separate baths for men and women and even religious minorities had their own special bath. In addition to public baths, there were some authorities in different historical eras who had their own special baths. Using the traditional baths in Iran was common till the last decade, today these baths have been replaced with public baths. However, in some small cities and villages, using traditional baths is still common among their inhabitants. Until recently, the baths, like mosques and schools, were considered public buildings and all of the people, from all walks of life, used public baths, even the authorities of Qajar dynasty used these baths as they did not have any personal bath in their own homes.

Vakil Bath House – Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran

Replacement of Khazineh with Shower

From the early 20th century, Khazineh was replaced with shower in order to observe hygiene and they were no longer used for washing and cleaning body. Unlike old baths, the buildings of new baths were constructed from the floor and the showers of public baths were installed inside of small chambers around Garmkhane. Today, many of the historical baths have become a tourist attraction because of their impressive and beautiful decorations such as paintings, tiling and forging and even some of them have become museum from among them, it can be pointed out to Vakil Bath in Shiraz, Pahneh Bath in Semnan, Ganjali Khan Bath in Kerman, Four-Season Bathhouse in Arak, Ali Shah and Shaykh Bahai Baths in Isfahan.

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Interior of a Qanat in Kerman Province, Iran

Qanat is the Arabic equivalent of Kariz, it is a name used for an Iranian irrigation system. In this system, underground channels bring water from underground water sources to the lowlands. Moghani or well diggers build a Kariz.

Through Qanat, Iranians made life possible in arid plateaus and provided water for the purpose of agriculture and drinking. Besides, in some cases, the Qanat is equipped with a place for its workers to rest and shower, and some of which had even watermills. This application of Qanat offers an exclusive cultural tradition and collective management of water reservoir over centuries. This is the reason that the Iranian central plateau’s civilization is known as Qanat Civilization. What is more important is the fact that in many rural regions, Qanat is still used for agricultural purposes.

Qanat is a series of parallel wells with different height linked together under the ground by a horizontal channel. The horizontal channel is the water passage that moves the water from the mountain to the city.

The main stages of digging Qanat consist of mother-Qanat, subsidiary wells and Qanat outlet.

Mother-Qanat or Mother-Well is the main vertical channel and the first one to be dug; it is the furthest well to the outlet. Finding its location is the most sensitive stage of digging Qanat. Usually, the place having plenty of vegetation is the right place of digging Mother-Qanat. The depth of Mother-Well is different which is determined by the well digger. Today, the deepest Iranian Mother-Well is Qanat of Ghasabe in Gonabad, the depth of its Mother-Well is about 300 meters.

Subsidiary wells or the mills are like a cylindrical channel that help transfer excavated material out, control the quality of water and ease repairing if necessary.

Persian Qanat Structure Infographic – Persia Advisor
Infographic by Farzaneh Abangar

The outlet of Qanat is the place that water comes out and appears on the surface of land. The depth of channels from mother Qanat to the outlet decreases so the deepest one is the Mother-Well and the shallowest one is the Outlet Well.

The size of Kariz depends on the features of geolocation of the area. In mountainous areas, they are short and having low depth while in deserts they are long and deep. The most important factor in determining the length of Qanat is the slope of land, when the land is not steep the length of Qanat becomes longer.

11 Iranian Qantas registered on the UNESCO Heritage List:

Ghasabe Qanat (Khorasan Razavi): This oldest and largest Qanat of the world was excavated between 4^th to 6^th centuries B. C., at the time of the Achaemenid Empire. This Qanat consists of more than 400 shafts, while the depth of mother shaft (main shaft) is 300 meters.

Mozdabad Qanat (Isfahan): The presence of stalactites and stalagmites in this Qanat represent an exclusive feature of a cave. Archaeological excavations suggest that this Qanat is the second oldest Qanat in Iran and exists since two thousand years ago.

Qanat of Baladeh (South Khorasan): The construction of this Qanat dates back to Sassanid Empire. The shaping and development of Ferdows city and its surrounded villages were highly depended on this Qanat. It has 15 shafts and four fluent wells.

Qanat of Zarch (Yazd): With a length of 120 km, Qanat of Zarch is the longest one in Iran. Surprisingly, this Sassanid Qanat consists of two thousand and fifteen shafts.

Hasan Abad-e Moshir Qanat (Yazd): This Qanat was constructed in the 14^th century CE in Mehriz. The relatively high discharge rate and low depth of Qanat stretched between Mehriz and Yazd and the quality of water have made this Qanat unique. Since the water stream in the channels contains salt and is limestone free, people of distant areas can have pure water without any residual minerals.

Qanat of the Moon (Isfahan): This 800-year-old Qanat is exclusive with two levels of water lying over each other. In this Qanat because of its soil formation, water of second level does not penetrate the first level.

Qanat of Vazvan (Isfahan): The Qanat of Vazvan with 1800-meter length was built at the time of Sassanid Empire. Three underground dams are constructed on its channels. The exclusive feature of this Qanat is the feasibility of closing its exit shaft in winters. In turn, this function helps to save water behind dams for agricultural purposes during spring.

Qanat of Goharriz (Kerman): Goharriz is a fully operational Qanat in Jupar County built in Safavid era. With a total of 3556-meter channels, it waters more than 330-hectare arid lands in Kerman province.

Ebrahim Abad Qanat (Markazi): The Qanat of Ebrahim Abad (12^th century CE) consists of 311 shafts and the mother well is 53 meters deep.

Qanat of Ghāsem Abad and Qanat of Akbar Abad (Kerman): These two lines of Qanat are close to each other have provided sufficient water for farming and agriculture for many villages in Kerman. Qanat of Ghāsem Abad and Qanat of Akbar Abad are relatively new aged only 100 years.

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Chogha Zanbil is a ziggurat dedicated to Inshushinak, the Elamite god. Ziggurat is a kind of stepped pyramid that its origin goes back to religion and the place of gods among human in Mesopotamia and areas around it like southwest of Iran.

Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat is one of the major archaeological sites in Iran that was created by the Elamite king Untash-Napirsha as a religious building around 13th century BC. According to the inscriptions on the exterior of Chogha Zanbil bricks, the whole construct was dedicated to Inshushinak, the lord of Elamite and Susa.

The ziggurat has a 100 * 100 m (330*330 ft.) base that serves as both a temple and a tomb.

It consists of five separately built concentric levels with varying elevation and each level was constructed directly from the ground.

This form of architecture (each level built from the ground and not over the previous layer) is what differentiates Chogha Zanbil and Mesopotamia ziggurats.

Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat Plan & Architecture

The top of temple was where the most important cultic rituals were performed. There were four gates with the southwestern gate being the main one. It was named imperial gate by Professor Roman Ghirshman (French archaeologist) which was connected to the top by side stairs. Only King and first-rate clergies were allowed to walk in these stairs. On both sides of the entrance gate, the statues of guardian bulls and winged griffins glazed in terracotta were placed.

Mud brick at the ancient Elamite complex of Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat

The monument was constructed using firebricks for the casing of structure and sun-dried bricks as filler. In the past, the exterior of the monument was decorated with blue and green glazed firebricks, inlaid ivory mosaics as well as opaque glass mosaics depicting prancing creatures.

Around the main ziggurat were other small shrines that were dedicated to other Elamite gods, the holy city was also protected by three layers of defensing walls.

Today, Chogha Zanbil lies approximately 40 km southeast of Susa and Khuzestan province. In 1979, UNESCO registered it as the first world heritage of Iran.

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