The elaborate eleven-sided corner towers and stone walls, seen here in the 1970s, are still now in relatively good condition. When he visited, Morton found what seemed to be the local quarry for the stone. [SA.M.5]
This is the ‘back’ entrance of Qasr-i Bahram in the 1970s. The doors have been changed, and the small canal supplying water is now more visible, but otherwise this looks almost exactly the same now. [SA.M.4]
Qasr-i Bahram, as the building is now called locally, is still stunning. Local experts say it was built as a hunting lodge for Shah Abbas. Graffiti recorded in the building in 1971 included a date of 1001AH/1592CE. Despite this, there is no record of Abbas stopping here when he passed in 1601 on the 1000km …
In 1628, Herbert described the “notable” caravanserai at Syacow, “which is built from the ground of good freestone, white and well polished, yea to the best of my remembrance . . this was the first building of this material I saw in eight hundred miles”. Here it is in the 1970s, when AH Morton visited. …
This image shows the area north-east of Kashan, up towards the Khurasan Highroad. In 1601, Shah Abbas walked through Kushab (bottom left here) and Dastkan, then across the white salt wastes of the Darya Namak, via Hauz-i Aga Muhammad and up towards Pul-i Shurab. He apparently did not stop at any of the three nearby …
Siahkuh (also called Abbasabad or Qasr-i Bahram) and Haramserail are situated close together, and between the fearsome salt plains of the Darya Namak and a 30km expanse of salty mud. Siahkuh is said to have been built as a hunting lodge for Shah Abbas the First, while the nearby Haramserail is suggested to have been …
In 1896, three British men set off on “the longest bicycle ride ever attempted, just 19,237 miles over continuous new ground” – including a ride through Persia. John Foster Fraser’s account of the two year trip is full of colonial-style anecdotes (many of which are a little too close to racism for many modern readers). …
This week’s blog is with many thanks to Kamran Afshar – who also helped me make the contacts I needed to be able to walk the migration with a Bakhtiari family. Kamran wrote to me of how: Those who have travelled to the land of the valiant, namely Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiari province in Iran, …
Yezdikhwast is between Isfahan and Shiraz – or, for Vita Sackville-West in 1927, from Isfahan on the way across the Zagros Mountains when she visited the Bakhtiari. She described the town as: “that fantastic grey eyrie overhanging a chasm. Pierre Loti compared it to the abode of sea birds [click here and scroll down for …