Tower sights in Iran
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
Towers of Silence
Set on two lonely, barren hilltops on the southern outskirts of Yazd are the evocative Zoroastrian Towers of Silence. In accordance with Zoroastrian beliefs about the purity of the earth, dead bodies were not buried but left in these uncovered stone towers so that vultures could pick the bones clean. Such towers have not been used since the '60s.
At the foot of the hills on the southern outskirts of Yazd are several disused Zoroastrian buildings, including a defunct well, a water cistern and two small badgirs (windtowers or wind catchers), a kitchen and a lavatory. The modern Zoroastrian cemetery is nearby.
The easiest way to get here is by chartering a private taxi for…
reviewed
-
Pigeon Towers
For centuries Esfahan relied on pigeons to supply guano as fertiliser for the city's famous fields of watermelons. The guano was collected in almost 3000 squat, circular pigeon towers, each able to house about 14,000 birds. Today they are unused, made redundant by chemical fertiliser, but more than 700 of the mud-brick towers remain in the city's environs.
The best place to see them is dotted along the Zayandeh River south of the Ateshkadeh. The 10km walk back into Esfahan makes a great afternoon, and you're also likely to see locally made cloth being laid out to dry.
reviewed
-
Alaviyan Dome
The Alaviyan Dome is now a misnomer, as the 12th-century green dome, immortalised in a Khaqani reference, has long since been removed. The dome-less brick tower remains famous for the whirling floral stucco added in the Ilkhanid era. This ornamentation enraptured Robert Byron in Road to Oxiana, but frankly it’s ugly. In the crypt (narrow steps down from the interior at the back) is the plain-blue tiled Alaviyan family tomb covered with votive Islamic embroidery.
reviewed
-
Mil-e Gonbad
Mil-e Gonbad is utterly magnificent. Soaring, 55m tall on 12m-deep foundations, this astonishing tower has the cross-section of a 10-pointed star, and looks like a buttressed brick spaceship. It was built in 1006 for poet-artist-prince Qabus ibn Vashmgir but is so remarkably well preserved that one can scarcely believe it’s 100, let alone 1000 years old.
reviewed
-
A
Milad Tower (Borj-e Milad)
Standing 435m high, including 120m of antenna, Milad Tower bears a striking resemblance to Toronto’s CN Tower, with the octagonal concrete shaft tapering from the base to a pod with 12 floors. The pod is home to an observation deck, a revolving restaurant, a ‘sky dome’ and various TV, radio and traffic control functions.
reviewed
-
Azadi Tower (Borj-e Azadi)
Way out west at the end of Azadi Ave is the inverted Y-shaped Azadi Tower, built to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the Persian Empire in 1971. There's an underground gallery, Quran museum, cinema and, best of all, viewing platform.
reviewed