Natanz 3: the monstrous plane trees

Many travellers stop at Natanz to see the gorgeous Ilkhanid (early 14th century) façade. It’s only an hour or so from Isfahan, on the way to Kashan.

But when I first went there, I was excited to see the ancient plane trees at the front of the Shrine. These have been suggested to have protected the façade from the sun and wind, even if an old photo (at least partially) refutes this idea.

Stories tell of the “monstrous” plane tree “under which from time immemorial have lodged all the caravans which came from Shiraz or Isfahan to Qazvin and Tabriz”.  Even at midday, with the sun right overhead, the huge branches of this plane tree apparently shaded an area of more than thirty paces size. The Spanish Ambassador, García de Silva y Figueroa, described seeing a caravan of 200 camels, horses and other beasts of burden easily accommodated in the tree’s shadow when he travelled up to Qazvin to meet Shah Abbas the Great in 1618.

And Shah Abbas himself stayed by or under the plane tree when he walked from Isfahan to Mashhad in 1601.

Since oriental plane trees can live 2000 years, it’s theoretically possible that it’s the same tree. But I soon worked out that the tree in front of the shrine is NOT the one in the stories.

First, the people from Natanz say that the town traditionally stretched “az chenar ta menar” – from the plane tree to the minaret (of the Shrine). The chenar they are talking about can’t be just outside the sShrine!

Also, Figueroa described the plane tree he saw as being 200 paces from the Shrine.

Instead, the local Cultural Service staff showed me another – once enormous – stump now with just a few struggling leaves. This is shown on a satellite map of the town. The stump is very nearby the modern market – which fits with the idea that supplies were sold to travellers beside the monstrous tree.

But the tree at the front of the shrine does give an idea of the enormous tree in Natanz that the Safavid travellers admired so much.