Partico of Kaboud Mosque (Blue Mosque) – Tabriz Province, Iran
Photo by Tappasan Phurisamrit / Shutterstock

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
Photo by Leonid Andronov / Shutterstock

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
Photo by NICOLA MESSANA/ Shutterstock

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
Photo by javarman / Shutterstock

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
Photo by Alexander Mazurkevich / Shutterstock

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
Photo by Udompeter / Shutterstock

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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Nasir Al-Mulk Mosque – Shiraz, Fars Province, Iran

The architecture of pre-Islamic Iran is divided into two styles of “Parsian” and “Parthian”.

Parsian Style

it is the first architectural style in Iran starting from Achaemenid era until the invasion of Alexander (from 6th to 4th B.C). Rectangular spaces with columned halls, construction of buildings on platform, introverted style, using wooden ceilings, carved stones, plinth and capital, decoration of entrance and glazed tile in interior sectors are among the main features of Parsian architecture.

Parthian Style

As the name suggests, Parthian Style is the architecture used by the Parthian, it includes diversity in patterns, introverted style, symmetry in construction of palaces and temples, increase in the height of buildings, curved arches and domes, squinches below the domes, using local materials like rubble, adobe, brick, mud, and stucco work.

Iran’s Architecture from the Advent of Islam to Seljuk (6^th to 11^th centuries)

In spite of the advent of Islam, for years, Iran’s architectural style was dependent on the past elements. After that, Muslim artists introduced new forms, buildings, and constructs like mosque, school, bridge, castle and caravanserai with respect to previous artistic features especially Sassanid ones and inspired Islamic mind-set.

At the beginning of Islamic time, more attention was paid to the construction of mosque. The mosques usually had simple structures, but from this time, we witnessed the rise of Muqarnas decorative designs (decorations made of brick, tile, stone, plaster and wood) as an ornament of the mosque. The Muqarnas decorative styles used in Gonbad-e Qabus tower is one of the earliest examples of it in 10th century. Besides, Ribat-i Mahi, contemporary to Gonbad-e Qabus tower, has muddy brick and stucco decorations as well and acts as a precedent for the more lavish decorations of Seljuk and Ilkhanate Eras.

Iran’s Architecture from Seljuk to Timurid (11^th to 15^th Centuries)

Seljuk dynasty (11th century) is one of the most outstanding periods of Iran’s architecture. The construction of schools was popular in this time and many schools were built in the cities of Baghdad, Neyshabur, Marv, Rey and Hyrcania (current Gorgan). The plans of most of the buildings in this era was Four-Iwan design (Chahar Iwani) with stucco and brick as their prominent decorations. Iwan is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. They are mostly build in exterior space of the buildings having entrance/ exit spaces. Different buildings such as mosque, school, tomb and caravanserai were constructed in this era as well. The splendour and glory of Seljuk architecture are completely visible in Jameh mosque of Isfahan. Although, Jameh mosque of Isfahan is the result of continual construction, reconstruction, additions and renovations of 15 centuries of Islamic Era, the most beautiful and important part of the mosque belongs to Seljuk Dynasty. It is interesting to know that the use of tile as a decorative element has become popular since the end of 10th century. The oldest examples are the tiles of Kharraqan towers in Qazvin which were built in Seljuk Dynasty.

Preserving the Seljuk architectural styles including Four-Iwan design, Ilkhanate architecture entered a new stage; Iwan became higher with narrow width and the walls got narrower as well. Decorations like stucco, tile work and brick with special patterns adorned buildings. Mihrabs of Isfahan Jameh Mosque, Urmia and Oshtorjan mosques are the obvious proofs of the mastery in stucco art in that era.

During Timurid dynasty, the art of mosaic tiling reached its zenith, it is the art of the assembling of small pieces of coloured tiles to make an image. Mosques like Goharshad in Mashhad, Blue in Tabriz, Khargerd Ghiasieh School in Khorasan and some buildings in Herat and Bukhara show the importance and application of this art in religious buildings.

In this era, Grand Khorasan in east of Iran played an important role in development of architecture as well. Khorasan was the origin of lots of innovations in architecture that spread it to other parts of the country. Two-Iwan style was used in Khorasan for the first time and it was one of the first cities that the traces of turquoise tile are found in, this style can be observed in Mosques of Zuzan, Gonabad and Forumad.

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

Iran’s Architecture from Safavid to the Contemporary Era

The 16th and 17th centuries are known as the period of flourishment of Islamic arts in Iran. In the shadow of the support of Safavid’s kings, art and architecture advanced drastically. The majority of buildings in Safavid era such as mosques, schools, and caravanserais were constructed in a four-Iwan style and Muaraq (Mosaic) and Haft Rang (Seven-Coloured) tiles were the main decorations used in the buildings, the template of tiles were square which were glazed and seven colors were used to design them. Calligraphy on tile became common in decoration of religious buildings as well. Public places like mosque, bridge, bathhouse, water reservoir and specially caravanserai were built more than ever. Amin Abad caravanserai in Isfahan, Deh-bid caravanserai on the road of Isfahan to Shiraz and the numerous Abbasi caravanserais built all over the country were important caravanserais of this period.

After the fall of Safavid Dynasty, the same architectural style of that time continued like before but it was not as glorious as before. Kalat Naderi Palace (Khorshid Palace) in Khorasan province (Afsharid era) and Vakil complex in Shiraz (Zandiyeh era) are outstanding buildings of this period. After this period and with the beginning of Qajar Reign, architecture was the centre of attention again. Some of the buildings from Qajar era like Al-Nabi Mosque in Qazvin, the Haj Ali Agha complex in Kerman, Imam Mosque, Sepahsalar Mosque and school in Tehran, as well as Golestan palace are the examples of the breathtaking architecture of Qajar era.

Contemporary Architecture

The contemporary architecture of Iran starts from early 19th century and continues up to now. Architectural structures of buildings in this time were the combination of traditional and western architecture styles which were witnessed in constructs like Shahrbani Palace, Marble Palace and Post Office building of Tehran, or modern architectural style was entirely used.

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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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Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, Isfahan Province, Iran
Photo by Alexandre Rotenberg / Sutterstock

Masjed-e Jameh of Isfahan is a museum of architecture since it embraces twelve centuries of Iranian mosque architecture. Even though the construction of the mosque is attributed to the 9th century CE, many believe that the mosque is built upon a pre-Islamic fire temple. This postulation is because of the excavation of a decorated Sassanid (224 – 650 CE) column base. When Islam was introduced to Iran, every Islamic art style left a trace on this mosque. Its majority of architecture and decorations were carried out by two major Iranian dynasties of Seljuk and Safavid.

Leveraging the four-iwans style of Sassanid palace architecture, the Jameh mosque of Isfahan underwent the first adaptation in the religious constructions. The four iwans called Sahib on the south, Dervish on the north, Ostad on the west, and Shagerd on the east sides of the mosque are all ornamented with Muqarnas (Stalactite vaulting) and Karbandi (a geometric decoration type).

Plan of Masjed-e Jameh of Isfahan – Persia Advisor Travels
by Negar Ganji

Decorated with stunning stucco, shabestan is close to the southern iwan and involves a forest of columns dating back to Daylamites (10th and 11th centuries CE). Unique in the time of Seljuk, the Nezam al-Molk dome was the prototype of double-shell ribbed domes that further enabled architects and artists to add further decorations to the dome. The iwan in front of the dome was decorated with large Muqarnas of 12th centuries CE and artworks of the ages of Qara Qoyunlu and Safavid dynasties. In the northern iwan, there is an elegant brick dome constructed by Taj al-Molk, another courtier of Malik Shah I and the rival of Nizam al-Molk.

The complex houses various mihrabs among which the most famous is the one with exquisite geometric and floral stucco design in the western iwan built under the command of Ilkhanid Sultan Uljeito. A Timurid Winter Hall with the application of alabaster skylight is situated next to the room of Uljeito.

Masjed-e Jameh of Isfahan was registered in UNESCO World Heritage list in 2012.

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Water Reservoir – Ab Anbar Haft Badgir – Asr Abad, Yazd Province, Iran
Photo by SeyedMahdiSalehi via Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-4.0

The importance of water and its storage led to the creation of an architectural structure calling water reservoir (Ab Anbar) which is one of the tourism attraction in Iran. It is an important traditional architectural structure in Iran, a sealed and covered water tank which was built lower than ground level to store drinking water to be used during the days with low storage of water or to have cold water during summer.

One of the most ancient water reservoirs in Iran is next to Chogha Zanbil region (an ancient Elamite complex in Khuzestan province) which goes back to the 2nd century of B.C. and was built upon flourishment of Elam civilization. Building different types of qanats and dams was developed during the dynasty of Parthian and Sassanian which shows a great achievement in techniques used for building structures to store water.

Water Reservoir – Ab Anbar Rostam Giv- Yazd, Yazd Province, Iran
Photo by Meysamwiki via Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

After Islam, building water reservoirs was developed in the villages and roads where caravans passed over there, by the appearance of cities and new neighbors, the water reservoirs were built next to the mosques, schools, bazaars and governmental palaces as part of a joined architectural complex. One of the most ancient water reservoirs is “Azodi Pool” which was built in Istakhr city in Fars province on 10th A.D. by the command of Adud al-Dawla Deylami. In Iran building water reservoirs was developed after 16th & 17th A. D. centuries.

Different Types of Water Reservoir

The water reservoirs were built either privately (in rural or urban houses) or publically. The most important water reservoirs of Iran are: Seyed Esmail, Saheb Eyvan, Yuzbashi, Imamzadeh Yahya (Tehran), Gholi & Sorkheh (Semnan), Haj Kazem & Sardar (Qazvin) and Mosalla (Yazd).

Depending on the size of water reservoirs, the tanks of water reservoirs are with or without pillar and their section is square, square-rectangle, octagonal or circle. The tanks of mountainous water reservoirs were built by cutting stones with hammer and other required tools and their ceilings were covered but in other regions, tanks were made by digging the ground.

The water reservoirs were connected to the qanats or fountain by canals. Most of the water reservoirs which were located around the roads were filled by spring floods of rivers near them.

Some of the private water reservoirs and most of the public water reservoirs have pashir (a place to pick up water) which is connected to the ground by brick or stony stairs. Some of the public water reservoirs do not have pashir and there are stairs in the tank (from the ground level till its bottom) and water can be directly picked up. There are some other water reservoirs with a low capacity which do not have any stairs and their water can be picked up through a hatch which are directly connected to the tanks.

Ways to keep water cold

Some architectural ways were being applied in order to keep water healthy and cold in the water reservoirs, ways such as building tanks lower than ground level, building thick walls or building wind-catcher over the ceiling of water reservoirs. The wind-catchers play a crucial role in keeping water tanks cold, especially in deserts and southern regions of Iran. The 6-wind-catcher water reservoir in Yazd with the height of 12 meters is one of the most salient wind-catchers.

Water reservoirs have been constantly among the tourism attractions of Iran and currently have been used as dining salons, café, museum and theater hall to be preserved and displayed to others.

Water Reservoir – Ab Anbar Haji Abdol Karim- Yazd, Yazd Province, Iran
Photo by MREZA1977 via Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-4.0

Ways to keep water cold

Some architectural ways were being applied in order to keep water healthy and cold in the water reservoirs, ways such as building tanks lower than ground level, building thick walls or building wind-catcher over the ceiling of water reservoirs. The wind-catchers play a crucial role in keeping water tanks cold, especially in deserts and southern regions of Iran. The 6-wind-catcher water reservoir in Yazd with the height of 12 meters is one of the most salient wind-catchers.

Water reservoirs have been constantly among the tourism attractions of Iran and currently have been used as dining salons, café, museum and theater hall to be preserved and displayed to others.

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