Haqqani official dock. An unauthorized dock, unofficial yet public, beside the Haqqani official dock and the Homa Hotel. This is not a metaphor — the smuggling zone is right next to the Haqqani temporary dock. The humble houses beside the smuggling dock serve as goods warehouses. Although often there is no need for a warehouse, because buyers are already waiting with their cars and vans for the boats. Porters are also at service. With their trousers rolled up or not, they wade into the water to shoulder cartons of merchandise and smuggled tires and carry them to shore. The locals call this activity — smuggling — "parachuting." The Bahonar dock, at the far western end of the city before Beheshti and Rajaei ports, is more orderly and better organized. Its construction dates back to the 1970s, when apparently Shahbandar (the former name of Rajaei dock) was supposed to extend to Lengeh. The dock and its wharf were built by the British. Its main building is also a pleasant and sensible structure apparently designed by Iranians. But the construction of these buildings was delayed by the revolution, and the main building came into operation in 1995. It bears the title of International Hall and provides travel services to Dubai, but it is very quiet and has little traffic. Apparently most travelers prefer to fly. A much smaller building beside it, called the Qeshm Hall, serves the multitude of passengers heading to Qeshm. The current state of these services has improved compared to a few years ago, when I first traveled from Bandar Abbas to Qeshm. Now a wooden platform has been prepared for passengers to board dhows and sea buses, with barriers to form queues, and a stepped plank for boarding that relieves passengers of needing helping hands — familiar or unfamiliar — for embarking and disembarking. It seems the influx of passengers heading to shop in the Qeshm Free Zone has played its role in improving conditions. As we move further east along the coastal road, conditions improve in appearance. On part of the coast, a highway has also been built with speed bumps at every step, to allow the passage of boatmen living in the poor coastal houses and their boats. Apparently, demonstrations and clashes occurred during the highway's construction, and the speed bumps have temporarily resolved the problem while also depriving the highway of its highway speed. The highway is reportedly meant to run from west to east to the airport and the affluent district, but it does not seem likely to be completed in our lifetime. And finally, one cannot leave this city without a good word about the Homa Hotel in Bandar Abbas — this hotel is a treasure that half of our other cities are deprived of: with well-mannered and accommodating staff, rooms properly furnished with clean and comfortable amenities, a beautiful and clean grounds, good food and service, and high-speed internet in all rooms. Of course, there are problems too, but resolving most of them is not within the hotel's own power. One of them is the very bad street leading to the hotel, filled with ugly boat and engine repair shops and spare parts stores. This street, like all the streets I saw in the center and west of Bandar Abbas, is full of scattered garbage, potholes, and gutters filled with murky water. The second is the view of the two docks beside the hotel, which serve as the promenade for hotel guests; one is the very site of goods smuggling beside the Haqqani dock. The volume of accumulated garbage there, which with the tide sometimes floats in the water and sometimes piles up on land, is such that one has no choice but to look away. On the other side, where boats are parked, the volume of garbage is less, but enough to make one imagine that even if this city had no municipality, conditions surely could not be worse. And perhaps it is worth mentioning, after the Homa Hotel, another pleasant aspect of Bandar Abbas as a closing note: the traditional clothing worn by a large number of the city's women, consisting of long dresses of colorful fabric with large flowers, floral lace chadors in eye-catching brilliant colors, colorful trousers, and slippers decorated with flowers and sequins. Even the burqa of the burqa-wearing women, who are mostly elderly, is red and golden. It is not unfair to add that their behavior, like their clothing, is different — bolder and freer. Although this difference is also seen in the behavior of local young people, many of whom have openly attended to their appearance, and is perhaps the result of the famous hot southern blood that manifests itself in speaking loudly, talking a great deal, and laughing heartily — and perhaps also in the strange driving the likes of which I have not seen anywhere in this land, where bad driving is not a rare phenomenon. And God have mercy on you if you are a pedestrian in Bandar Abbas. Drivers practically approach as if intending to run over the insolent pedestrian who has crossed their path; and incredibly, even motorcyclists who ride on the sidewalks become angry at the presence of pedestrians there!!
Persian Gulf coast, between Bushehr and Bandar Abbas, photo from the book Iran, Nasrollah Kasraian.
Hormoz. Small Hormoz resembles an intact, unbroken rose-colored seashell that, instead of resting on the shore, floats upon the sea. Perhaps this very smallness and compactness makes one wonder how it is possible that this palm-sized piece of land has stood firm and steady to the depths of the sea for several thousand years or more. The small stone dock where we disembark, with old orange-colored dhows anchored beside it, also appears to be a thousand years old — if we overlook the small boat that brought us to Hormoz in half an hour, packed with boxes of chips, soft drinks, potatoes, and onions, and the small white ticket-selling booth built atop the stone dock. In truth, the Hormoz dock is not so much of a dock. A few steps away from it, we reach a quiet and empty area with the famous Portuguese fortress as its vista. The fortress is truly the color of an orange. The color of the dhows is also orange, and the island's soil in many places has an orange hue. It is this very color that makes it resemble a thin and beautiful shell. Beside the gateway of the Portuguese fortress, there is an old black cannon that apparently must have been there for several centuries — and how strange if that is the case! The fortress has a guard with the delightful name of Hassan Daryapeyma, who is an excellent guide. The fortress walls are standing, and its melancholy church, which descends several steps to a basement, is perfectly intact. The thought that people once prayed and worshipped here has made it melancholy. The fortress overlooks the sea from one side, which here is deep blue, creating a pleasing composition with the orange fortress, and from the other side overlooks a beautiful red brick building. Mr. Daryapeyma says this building is an old guesthouse that after the revolution became a Revolutionary Guards base and is now the headquarters of the Islamic Combatants Committee. From the Portuguese fortress to the center of Hormoz is not far, and along the way we finally see a car. We get in and drive through a few streets of Hormoz. Here too there are those eternal boulevards, eternal parks that even have entrance gates, and of course eternal traffic circles — in one of which a cannon has been placed so that one knows this is Hormoz, not Saveh. But not even a bird stirs in them, although the traces of birds that once flew there are quite evident. The small and quiet alleys and streets of Hormoz are also full of scattered garbage. In the alleys, there is not much sign of cars and motorcycles, not even parked ones. Beside the quiet, more or less humble houses — which resemble all the humble houses of all cities, including south Tehran, and are built with the same materials — instead of a car, a boat is usually parked, and sometimes a few goats are lounging calmly and quietly beside the houses. The driver says some people here keep chickens, but the "rajkuh" or weasel is the mortal enemy of these chickens. According to him, those who came from Minab to Hormoz brought weasels to exterminate the mice, but now their number is several times that of the mice. In Hormoz, the number of shops is small, but among them there is even a pizza shop. The town has no bazaar. According to the driver, they have just started building one there. He says the island has no fresh water either, and water reaches there through underwater pipes from Bandar Abbas! Apparently, the occupation of most islanders is fishing. By the sea, at the boat parking area, a man sits alone and motionless like a statue. The way he sits makes me think that perhaps life on this small shell-shaped island can only be imagined in the form of a story like Robinson Crusoe or castaways at sea who end up on a remote island in the middle of the ocean. The last thing we see in Hormoz is a sandy carpet on a beach outside the town, where the surrounding nature is as beautiful as the patterned carpet. The nature of Hormoz is not mythological like Qeshm — it is simpler, more modest, more delicate, and in a way more pleasant. The rose-colored earth and its undulations, the brilliant green of slender trees, the intense blue of the sea, and the white clouds, against a backdrop of deep silence, is truly soothing and delightful. Old guesthouse building and today's Islamic Combatants Committee headquarters. Hormoz dock. Portuguese fortress of Hormoz viewed from the sea.
The Izeh bridge, midway on the Isfahan-Ahvaz road — built with stone on the bed of a dry and very deep river — Ashkaft-e Salman, Kul-e Farah, Khong-e Azhdar, monuments belonging to pre-Christian dynasties (14 in total), and a cemetery with stone lions in Shahsavar belonging to the Safavid period, are among the historical monuments of Izeh. Andimeshk: This city is located on the southern foothills of the Zagros Mountains and beside the ruins of the city of "Lor." "Lor" was a prosperous city in the Sassanid era mentioned by geographers such as Istakhri and Moqaddasi. Apparently this city thrived until the Middle Ages and thereafter fell into ruin. The initial foundation of Andimeshk was laid during the Qajar period. Among the historical monuments of this city are the ruins of the Sassanid city of "Lor," the shrine of Shahzadeh Ahmad in "Mazu," and the ruins of the Elamite city in the Zaferan Plain. Behbahan: This city is located in the southeast of the province, ten kilometers from the historic city of Arjan — whose construction is attributed to Qobad, the Sassanid king. Among the historical attractions of this region are the Arjan tomb, the Parthian-era reliefs in the Sarvok Valley, the Seljuk-era bathhouse, the ruins of two bridges and a dam, the ruins of the Kheirabad fire temple, and the bazaar row. Khorramshahr: Khorramshahr is situated beside the Karun River at its junction with the Arvand Rud, fifteen kilometers from Abadan. The Karun River divides the city into northern and southern zones. This city has been attacked repeatedly, destroyed, and rebuilt. In 1215 AH, due to its commercial importance, economic prosperity, and its overshadowing of the port of Basra, it was seized and destroyed by the Ottoman Turks. Until before the Iran-Iraq War (1980), this city had maintained its importance as Iran's largest commercial port. Unfortunately, nearly all buildings in the city's old neighborhoods have been damaged or completely destroyed. In part of the city's old fabric that has not been leveled, between the Bazar-e Safa neighborhood and the Falakeh Darvazeh, a number of old residential units exist. These buildings are introverted and mostly one or two stories. In the old fabric, all buildings without exception have a relatively small central courtyard surrounded by various spaces. The form of the buildings in plan and in the ensemble is very compact. The ratio of each residential unit's built area to its lot area is very high. The form of these buildings bears great resemblance to buildings in desert regions. The major difference between the two is the presence of wide covered porches in this city's buildings that protect the courtyard-facing facades from summer sun. The roofs are flat and generally enclosed by tall, latticed parapets. These parapets prevent the rooftop space from being seen but do not obstruct airflow through this space. Consequently, the rooftop can be used as an outdoor space during the afternoon or evening and generally when outdoor conditions are favorable. The main spaces receive light from the courtyards. Of course, in cases where the characteristics of the building's surroundings were suitable, windows have been opened toward the alley as well. For example, where the shadow of a tall wall falls on the western wall of a building, windows have been provided in this wall. The opening area of doors and windows is relatively large, but the greater part of these surfaces is covered with wood; therefore, despite the windows having a relatively large surface, their light-admitting area is very limited. The skylights of doors and windows are provided in their upper portions. Dezful: This city is situated at an elevation of 147 meters above sea level on a vast plain where no mountain can be seen for a distance of 25 kilometers. The Dez River, originating from Zard Kuh, flows beside the city. Dezful's name derives from a bridge with 12 arches and springs built on the Dez River. Sample No. 1, ground floor. Sample No. 2, ground floor. Sample No. 3, ground floor. Sample No. 4, ground floor. Sample No. 3, first floor. Several examples of traditional houses in Khorramshahr's old fabric, from the book Climate and Architecture of Khuzestan. Stone city, Izeh. Ranguniha Mosque, Abadan. Ashkaft-e Salman inscriptions, Izeh.
built during the Sassanid era under Shapur. In the fourth century AH, this city was known as "Qasr-e Ronash," and Moqaddasi referred to it as "Qantara," meaning bridge. Dezful is famous for indigo cultivation for dyeing and reed pen production. Among the oldest historical monuments of the city are prehistoric sites, the ancient city of Jundishapur (Iran's first university center), the Sassanid bridge with 14 main spans and 12 secondary spans, the beautiful traditional architectural fabric, mills, the Sabz Qaba shrine, the old city bazaar, the shrine of Mohammad ibn Ja'far Tayyar, and the remains of a ruined massive brick palace belonging to the Sassanid period called Eyvan-e Karkheh, 18 kilometers from the city. The remains of Bandpai Pol and the Dezful bridge are located beside the Karkheh River and the Dehloran road, north of the new iron bridge, and probably belong to the Sassanid period. There are other ancient dams in this city as well, situated at intervals to the northwest and west. The Dezful bridge, located on the Dez River on the route of the old Dezful-Andimeshk road, is another of Dezful's dams. The Jame Mosque of Dezful is located in the city's central square, and its original construction dates to the third or fourth century AH, having been repaired in the seventh century, the Safavid period, and the Qajar period. The current building of the mosque comprises an entrance portal, a spacious courtyard, iwans, and southern and eastern prayer halls. The northwestern entrance portal, built in the early twelfth century AH (1157), features muqarnas and tilework decorations and the date of the building's restoration. The mosque courtyard is relatively spacious, measuring 26 by 27.6 meters. This mosque was built in the architectural style of the Sassanid period and similar to the Jame Mosque of Shushtar, and is an imitation of Eyvan-e Karkheh. The Lab-e Khandaq Mosque is one of the city's large and old mosques. The current building dates to the Qajar period and comprises an entrance portal, a relatively spacious courtyard, an iwan, a minaret, prayer halls with arch and dome coverings on brick pillars, and tilework decorations. Masjed Soleyman: This city is located 145 kilometers north of Ahvaz, and its name derives from the historical platform of Sar Masjed and the fire temple. Masjed Soleyman was called "Asak" during the Elamite period and "Parsumaš" during the Achaemenid period. Iran and the Middle East's first oil well, called Well Number One, was drilled in this city. Its most important historical monuments are the Platform of Solomon and Bard-e Neshandeh. The Sar Masjed Platform (Platform of Solomon) is the remains of a temple or fire temple with stairs and round columns, situated on a vast expanse atop a hill overlooking the Sarbishah of Masjed Soleyman. In the past, its fire was kept continuously burning by the natural gases present. This fire temple probably belongs to the Sassanid period. The Bard-e Neshandeh Platform has 28 entrance steps, each 8.5 meters long. This platform has stairs on all four sides, with five bays on the east and west sides, each bay measuring 7.20 meters. The Bard-e Neshandeh or Mil-e Neshandeh structure is located within a ruined building at the beginning of the lower section of this complex. This structure bears great resemblance to the Platform of Solomon. Susa (Shush): This city, at an elevation of 87 meters above sea level, is one of the oldest cities in the world, founded approximately 4,000 years before Christ as the religious center of the inhabitants of the surrounding plains. Hills in this city indicate the existence of 6,000 years of human civilization in this region. Most of Khuzestan's prehistoric sites are located around the hills of Susa, at a distance of 3 to 15 kilometers to the north or east. In the final decades of the last century AD, when the French arrived at Susa, after preparing various maps based on the condition of the hills, they divided this site into four sections named the Citadel (Acropolis), Apadana, the Royal City, and the Artisans' City. The Shaur River passes through the city, dividing it into eastern and western halves. Susa was the political and economic center of the Elamite Empire — which served as an intermediary between the civilizations of India, Central Asia, and Mesopotamia — and the center of various ritual ceremonies near Chogha Zanbil. The history of settlement in Susa begins with the Elamite peoples and extends to the Islamic era (remains from 15 periods have been found on this hill). The majority of artifacts discovered from this hill date to the Achaemenid period, as it served as the summer capital of the kings of this dynasty. During the reign of Darius I, Susa was once again chosen as the capital. Susa and its Achaemenid palaces, unlike Persepolis, were not destroyed when Iran was conquered by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. He celebrated his marriage to the daughter of the last Achaemenid king in this city. Susa was revived during the Sassanid period and reached the height of grandeur and wealth after Iran's conquest by the Arabs. Among the remains and relics from the Islamic period, there exist a bathhouse, a sugar factory, a mosque (measuring 60 by 70 meters, which was probably the city's congregational mosque), a madrasa, and a pottery and brick kiln (belonging to the Seljuk period). The glory and grandeur of Susa came to an end around the third century AH, and from the fourth century it fell into ruin, until finally in the seventh and eighth centuries AH it was completely abandoned and life there was limited to the comings and goings of pilgrims to the shrine of the Prophet Daniel. The ancient hill of Susa, whose excavation began approximately 120 years ago (1269 AH), has been the dwelling place of numerous peoples throughout history. The antiquity of this region reaches the fourth millennium BC, which is far older than the first Iranian governmental state. The shrine of the Prophet Daniel, one of the prophets of the Children of Israel, is situated on the eastern bank of the Shaur River, opposite the Citadel hill. This structure comprises two courtyards surrounded on all sides by chambers and iwans. The shrine of Daniel is located at the end of the second courtyard, which is larger and more spacious. Above its tomb is a tall conical and crenellated (stepped) dome. General plan of the residential complex in Kohandezh neighborhood, Dezful. Ground floor. The ancient fabric of the city of Dezful.
Details of stonework in the Dezful bridge dam and Bandpai Pol, showing iron clamp sockets between stones. Details of brickwork in the Dezful bridge and Bandpai Pol bridge. Architectural details of Sassanid-era bridge dams. Installation of small bays above the pillars and their manner of functioning in passing floodwaters. Jame Mosque, Dezful.
One of the most beautiful artifacts discovered at Susa — a glazed brick depicting a soldier of the Immortal Guard, kept at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Achaemenid building complex. This dome has been built in the common style of the region's domes, and similar examples are widely seen in southwestern Iran. This structure forms the original core of the city of Susa. At a distance of 45 kilometers southeast of the city of Susa, on the road from Susa to Shushtar, lie the ruins of an Elamite city belonging to the era of "Untash-Gal," at the center of which the Chogha Zanbil ziggurat is located. In the southern corner of the city, the remains of two palaces and a monumental gate that archaeologists have named the Royal Gate, as well as a temple, can be seen. Beneath one of these palaces, there is a magnificent tomb at a depth of six meters where the Elamite royal family would cremate the bodies of their dead. This structure is the oldest historical monument in Khuzestan province, and despite being over 3,000 years old, it remains perfectly intact and standing due to having been hidden beneath the earth. This magnificent structure is also considered one of the oldest architectural monuments of Iran. The Elamite temple of Chogha Zanbil is situated on a large earthen hill on the banks of the Dez River, a branch of the Karun. This temple was built by Untash-Gal, the Elamite king, around 1250 BC, and was dedicated to the god "Inshushinak." The temple building is a five-story structure measuring 105 by 105 meters with a height of approximately 53 meters. It is constructed of sun-dried mud brick with a fired brick facing. Around this temple, a number of inscribed clay tablets and human and animal statues have been discovered. The most interesting object found in the Chogha Zanbil excavations is a winged bull statue, crafted with utmost delicacy and skill, on whose back an inscription in Elamite script has been written in several rows. This bull, which apparently stood atop one of the ziggurat's portals, currently adorns the hall of the National Museum of Iran. The French fortress is also considered one of the notable sights of Susa. In 1850 AD, the French began their first excavations at Susa, which led to the discovery of the foundations of Ardashir's palace. In 1855, a French expedition led by Marcel Dieulafoy discovered the palace of the Achaemenid Artaxerxes II. Thereafter, an expedition led by de Morgan continued excavations at Susa with the exclusive permission of the Iranian government. This group built a fortress as a residence using bricks obtained from this hill, which has a French plan possibly inspired by the design of the French Bastille and was constructed by an architect from Dezful named Haj Mostafa Dezfuli in 1912. This fortress is situated opposite the tomb of the Prophet Daniel, and its facade of brick and its brick decorative details are influenced by the region's architecture. The fortress plan is trapezoidal in shape, surrounded on all sides by a corridor, with towers at the two northern corners — the northwestern tower being square and the northeastern tower circular. Four sample houses examined in the city of Susa, built from approximately 90 years ago to the present, comprise one or several rooms where the taromi (porch), after the courtyard, serves as the space divider. The existence of a kitchen and bakery was not necessary even in old houses; therefore, in newer examples too, the least space is allocated to the kitchen. In Susa, there is no sign of elaborate, large houses with diverse spaces like those of Dezful and Shushtar, and despite the hot climate and the need for a dark and cool underground space, due to the high level of groundwater, shabestan and shavadan are also not found in the houses of this city. The brick facade, which sometimes has modest decorations, is a sign of the influence of Shushtar and Dezful architecture on the architecture of Susa. Shushtar: This city is located in the northeast of Khuzestan at an elevation of 53 meters above sea level, 85 kilometers north of the city of Ahvaz and near the point where the Karun enters the Khuzestan plain. This characteristic led to the emergence of the first agriculture-based settlements in this location 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The citadel or Salasol fortress, which served as the ancient citadel during the Sassanid era, was built beside the Karun River. During the same period, the Shadorvan (Shapuri) bridge was also built on the Karun; to build it, part of the river was diverted toward the east of the city, which is the same bed of the Gargar or Do-Dangeh River. The most valuable architectural aspects of Shushtar should be sought in its hydraulic installations — such as bridge-dams, mills, waterfalls, the underground water network of the city (which may be the first urban piped water system in the world). Among these, the Shushtar waterfall complex, which powers several mills and a power plant, and the Gargar bridge-dam are recognized as the largest industrial structures of ancient times. The head of UNESCO personally registered this monument on the World Cultural Heritage list after a visit. This complex is among the most beautiful and awe-inspiring historical structures, with the potential to be transformed into a vast cultural-recreational complex — for example, it could be reconstructed as an extensive park-museum with a guesthouse, hotel, museum, library, conference hall, and sports and recreational facilities. The Gargar bridge-dam is a link in the vast hydraulic chain of Shushtar, built on the Gargar River. The Gargar River is an artificial branch of the Karun River that separates from the Karun north of the city and rejoins the main branch approximately 40 kilometers downstream. The Borj-e Ayyar bridge-dam is another dam situated on the Gargar River downstream of the waterfalls. Other dams of Shushtar include: the Shadorvan bridge-dam, built on the Shatit branch and considered one of the most fundamental parts of Shushtar's hydraulic installations; the Mizan dam, a very important example among the city's historic hydraulic structures. French fortress. Drawing by Hamid Ebrahimi Yeganeh.
Shushtar. Drawing by Saeed Sadat Nia.
Shushtar bridge-dam. This historic city structure divides the Karun River into the Shatit and Gargar branches, and its construction dates back to the Sassanid period; the Lashgar bridge-dam, built during the Sassanid period outside the Lashgar Gate; the Khak dam, one of Shushtar's historic hydraulic structures, whose task was to control the flooding of the Dariun canal and direct part of its water to another city; the single-span bridges of Mostofi, Bateni, and Haji Khodaei, built during the Qajar period on the Dariun canal; and the Dariun canal, excavated during the reign of Darius I of the Achaemenid dynasty, which irrigated the Mian-Ab plain of Shushtar. Other hydraulic installations of Shushtar that can be mentioned include the Doplon bridge, the Seh Kureh tunnel, the Gabri dam, the Chah Anjiri water reservoir, the Amir dam, the Qir dam, the Dara dam, the Dokhtar dam, the Shah Ali bridge, the Maqam dam, and the Khak dam. The shrine of Imamzadeh Abdullah is one of the most important pilgrimage sites of Shushtar. The current building of this shrine dates to the seventh century AH. This tomb is situated atop a hill in the south of Shushtar, within a walled enclosure, and has a pleasant view. Above the entrance portal of the shrine, an inscription in Kufic script remains, showing the date of Muharram 629 AH. In ancient times, this tomb had many attachments such as a madrasa, library, and guesthouse, which have been destroyed and ruined over time. This brick structure has a conical and crenellated dome and beautiful plaster, stone, and painting decorations. The dado and the covering of its two minarets are of tile, and the interior of the dome is decorated with images of 15 cypress trees. The shrines of Seyyed Mohammad Golabi, Bara ibn Malek, Saheb al-Zaman, and Seyyed Mohammad Shah are other pilgrimage sites of Shushtar. The Salasol fortress is very large and once had elaborate and numerous courtyards, barracks, stables, prayer halls, towers, gardens, an arsenal, a drum house, a harem, a bathhouse, kitchen, pool, ramparts, and a moat — all of whose structures have been destroyed except for the shavadans and tunnels of the Dariun canal. Historical texts attest to its existence during the Achaemenid era. This citadel, besides its role as the defender of the city of Shushtar, was the control center of the Dariun canal and the residence of the governor of Khuzestan. Madame Jane Dieulafoy, the famous French archaeologist, said in 1881: "The Salasol fortress, the residence of the governor of Khuzestan, is situated on a mountain beside a small plateau. One of the branches of the Karun River called Shatit passes at the foot of this mountain." The Jame Mosque of Shushtar is one of the early Islamic-era buildings. From its plaster decorations and Kufic inscription above the mihrab, it is evident that its construction dates back to the third century AH. This mosque has 12 rows of columns on the north side. Some houses, Susa.