Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
during winter - the ice that formed was scraped off and then moved to an adjoining building, often a stepped dome.
The
yakh dan
at Meybod (
Click here
) near Yazd resembles a circular ziggurat outside and a vast hollow egg inside.
Yazd is also famous for its
badgirs
(windrowers;
Click here
)
, while Esfahan still has many curious-looking circular
towers that were once used to rear pigeons for meat and manure.
The art of Persian tile production dates back to the Elamite period, but it peaked during
the Safavid era (1502-1736). Safavid-era tiles come in two main forms. The best are
moarraq kashi
(mosaics)
-
patterns are picked out in tiny pieces of tile rather than created
in one piece. Less fine and more common are the
haft rangi
(seven-coloured) tiles, which
are square with a painted surface and first appeared in the early 17th century; see Shah in
a Hurry,
Click here
.
In terms of colourful tiles, Qajar buildings may lack in quality, but they often make up
in quantity. Standout examples include the Golestan Palace (
Click here
) in Tehran and the
walls of the wonderful Takieh Mo'aven ol-Molk (
Click here
)
in Kermanshah.
Pre-Islamic Architecture
The only substantial remains left from before the 7th century BC are those of the remark-
able Elamite ziggurat at Choqa Zanbil (
Click here
)
. The ancient inhabitants of Persia im-
bued their mountains with great religious symbolism and built characteristic pyramidal
ziggurats to imitate them. The earliest builders used sun-dried mud bricks, but baked brick
was already being used for outer surfaces by the time Choqa Zanbil was built in the 13th
century BC - the bricks there look like they came out of the kiln last week.
The surviving sites from the Achaemenid era (550-330 BC) include the magnificent ce-
remonial palace complexes and royal tombs at Pasargadae (
Click here
)
, Naqsh-e Rostam
(
Click here
)
, Shush (
Click here
)
and the awesome Persepolis (
Click here
)
. These are dec-
orated with bas-reliefs of kings, soldiers, supplicants, animals and the winged figure of the
Zoroastrian deity Ahura Mazda.
The Achaemenids typically built with sun-dried brick and stone and there are links with
the old ziggurats in both shape and decoration. The Achaemenid style also incorporated
features taken from Egyptian and Greek architecture. They built colossal halls supported
by stone and wooden columns with typically Persian bull's-head capitals.
