By: Taban Khajehnassiri
In my trip to Yazd, I had this opportunity to meet some old and young people of yazd, who asked me to write about their beautiful city on the Internet, to write about the kindness and hospitality of Yazdis, their arts and artistic works. - This article first featured in WWN Jun 30, 2001 -
It is only 55 minutes air travel from Tehran, capital of Iran, to the city of wind catchers. The dry and hot city of Yazd is located in the heart of Iran. With the most interesting and magnificent architectural and historical works, mosques, Domes, Minarets, bricks and clay buildings, I can strongly say that Yazd is the most beautiful desert city in the whole world, because the architecture of Yazd is unique. The color of clay is the color of the whole city, and this is another remarkable and distinctive aspect of the city. And believe me, writing about Yazd and the people of this desert city is really exciting to me and this is why after a short trip to Yazd last week, I decided to dedicate this article to the place you can catch the most beautiful wind catchers.
These towers as we call them in Persian Baad-girs (wind-towers or wind catchers) are ancient systems of ventilation mostly popular in central and southern Iran. At the top of (old) houses in Yazd, High turrets with some long vertical openings designed and oriented toward the direction of winds to catch the wind and leading it to the lower parts of the house for its ventilation purpose. These ancient systems of ventilation in the Middle East and let me strongly say in the whole world has been realized as the best practical way of ventilation in the hot and dry areas. Wind catchers lead the wind to a water-tank constructed right below the tower eight to ten meters below street level where the air is cool and pleasant. The wind towers showed me the huge history and design of Iran and the Iranians, and this is why I am in love with these wind catchers of Yazd.
In addition to these ancient systems of ventilations, Yazd enjoys an elaborate system of Qanats (Underground conduits). And like many other cities in Iran. Yazd has many exotic places, historical and known as our cultural heritage. From the era of Zoroastrians, let me name Dakhmeh as a place where the Zoroastrians used to leave their dead based on their own customs and traditions. The Fire Temple of Zoroastrians called Atashkadeh or Atashgah is another beautiful place to go in Yazd. From the Islamic era, there are many places such as The Grand Mosque of Yazd with the dome and the main entrance as well as Minarets showing the exotic and glazed Tiles which was built in 724 H. I could only appreciate the art of Yazdis while I was watching the wooden door of the Emarat-e Bagh-e Dulatabaad (The palace and Garden of Dulatabaad) which was built in 1150 H. It was really great walking through the garden and touching the great history of Iran, so close and exciting. Yazd once again brought me the feeling that we have so many things to write about Iran on the Internet, the new media, for the peoples of the world. I believe we need more and more websites to display this beauty. And we have to send out our sites' copies to the world to let them all know, all things about our culture, traditions and history. There are many things I wanted to write about Yazd. but I can hardly find enough time to write about the beautiful places of Yazd such as Chak Chak, The City Ancient walls, Bazaar, Eskandar's Prison, The Grand Mosque and Amir Chakhmaq Mosque (the Square) and The Twelve Imams Shrine, The Cistern known as The Shesh Baadgirs of Yazd (The 6 Wind Catchers), Khaneh-e Arabha known as the Emarat-e Mahmudis, Mulla Esmaeil Mosque, and its exotic and vast Shabestan (The Main Hall). I can hardly find enough time to write about Yazdis hand made traditional tiles used in decorating the inner and outer sides of the walls of mosques, about Yazdis hand carpet-weavings, silk-weavings, shawl-makings, Yazdis traditional shoes known among Iranians as Giveh. I wish I could find that enough time, and I will, some day, I know it.
Yes, I am in love with Yazd Wind Catchers, they are so great and all in the color of clay as the whole city of Yazd, the city of windcatcher towers, the city of Tekey-e Amir Chakhmagh, the city of the Larrys House, Yazd is really the city of art.
The ancient dry and hot city of Yazd, this clay infrastructure in the heart of Iran's deserts has now connected to the net, not only via this brief editorial but from the bottom of the kind hearts of Yazd people. In my trip to Yazd, I had the honor to visit many old and young people of yazd, - as they found out about what I am doing on the Internet, authoring and designing sites about Iran - they asked me to write about their beautiful city on the Internet, to write about the kindness and hospitality of Yazdis, their arts and artistic works. I will write about this city more in future, but you can also come and visit Yazd. For your information, a website is here on the Internet to stay, Yasna Travel And Tour Agency at http://www.yasna-agency.com/ - the agency, in addition to its international tours, has some domestic tours dedicated to those who are about to visit Yazd, take a desert camel riding and use the Yasna's MiniTour which has been envisaged for tourists coming to Yazd to spend only one or two nights. Yasna MiniTour has nine main stations in different parts of the city, it starts from the International Safaeeye Hotel in the Safaeeyeh Quarter and scheduled to show the exotic places of Yazd to interested tourists with their shuttle Minibus.