Touristic villages in Isfahan

There are many touristic villages in Isfahan and also towns in Isfahan province, which are popular among travelers due to their historical background and pristine nature.

Below are some of these famous ones:

1- Kashan

The historical city of Kashan, located in the north of Isfahan province, is the second largest city in the province and one of the most important touristic villages in Isfahan. Kashan, which is one of the central cities of Iran, is impressive with its art, history and architecture. The city of Kashan, due to the remnants of the Silk civilization, is considered one of the oldest and most ancient cities in Iran with a history of more than seven thousand years.

Kashan is also known as the carpet capital of the world.

Kashan climate

Kashan is a desert and hot city with hot summers. In spring and autumn, the temperature is between 10- and 22-degrees Centimeter and the weather is very cool. Also in winter, the air temperature will not reach less than 3 degrees Centimeter.

Therefore, the best time to visit Kashan is spring and autumn.

Rituals and celebrations of Kashan

There are many traditional celebrations and festivals in Kashan, the most famous of which is Golabgiri festival. This celebration, which is held in May, is a ceremony of collecting and preparing damask rose for Golabgiri festival.

Another famous ceremony of this city is this (ghali shuyan) carpet washing which is held in October.

 Background of Kashan name

It is said that the name Kashan is derived from the Kasi people. The Caspians were a group of immigrants who settled in this area.

One group considers Kashan to be derived from “Ki Ashian” meaning the place of rulers, and another group considers the word Kashan to mean summer houses made of wood and reeds.

Tourist Attractions

Kashan is known as an artistic and historical city in Iran and abroad. The tourist attractions of this city are summarized in three sections: historical, natural and local celebrations.

  Kashan is more than 7,000 years old and its historical and traditional texture can be seen in its alleys.

Fin Garden

Fin Garden is one of the most famous and important tourist attractions of the city, which has been registered as a national monument and is one of the 9 Iranian gardens registered in the World Heritage List.

  The garden is so beautiful that it is mentioned as a perfect example of Iranian gardening.

The area of Finn Garden is 33799 square meters and due to the location of walls and cylindrical towers around the garden, it is very magnificent and royal, hence it is also called “King’s Garden”.

One of the interesting things about this garden is that some people believe in throwing coins into the pond and their wish will come true. The philosophy of throwing coins into the water is considered to be related to the religion of Zoroaster. In this religion, water is a symbol of purity and its followers gave part of their wealth to the goddess of water to bless their homes.

The exact date of the Finn Garden is not known and some people attribute its construction to the time of Ardeshir Babakan.

The first mention of the Finn Garden in historical sources dates back to the time of Yaqub Laith Saffari, who mentioned the existence of a spring and a garden in the central deserts of Iran.

According to historical sources, others have considered the Al-Buwayhid period as the time of the construction of the Finn Garden, and some have attributed it to the patriarchal era.

Effervescent pool (houze jushan)

 One of the attractions of this garden is the effervescent pool (houze jushan). The floor of this pool is completely tiled and the tiles have patterns similar to Kashan carpets. This pond has 160 holes symbolizing carpet flowers.

Unfortunately, during the reign of Reza Shah, most of the tiles were looted and some of them were sold to the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Twelve Fountain Pond

The Twelve Fountains Pond was built during the reign of Mohammad Shah Qajar. This pond is like a water atmosphere with a fountain. This pool is similar to the stream with 12 fountains.

The philosophy of using ponds and fountains in Iranian gardens has been to create a sense of calm by seeing the water and hearing its sound, as well as cooling the ambient air.

Fin bath

Finn Bath, which is located in Finn Garden and is one of the historical attractions of Kashan. The main reason for the fame of this bath is the assassination of Mirza Taghi Khan Amirkabir, Prime Minister Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar on January 11, 1230.

There are two small and large baths in Kashan Fin Garden. The small bath was built in the Safavid period and the large bath was built in the Qajar period.

 Both bathrooms have different sections such as entrance, warm house, fountain, dressing room.

Considering the fact that baths are more than 100 years old, the technology used to change the bath water and refresh it is remarkable and still works properly.

 One of the most interesting parts of the fin bath is the waterproofing of the walls, which is made of lime, mortar and sand to prevent wasting energy and keeping water warm. The natural materials used in this bath are still efficient after all these years.

One of the remarkable points about Kashan Fin Bath is the existence of 7 old tiles in the treasury section, which date back to 500 years ago. The small bath, which was built for the use of servants and crew, is very simple, has no architectural features and it became famous because of the murder of Amir Kabir in this place. After this incident, Finn’s garden and bath were forgotten for a long time, and this gave the looters the opportunity to loot the marble.

The Great Bath, also known as the Royal Bath, was built by order of Fath Ali Shah Qajar. The large bath was built for the use of courtiers, and is therefore very valuable in terms of interior architecture.

This beautiful bathroom is made of marble columns and all the columns and the ceiling are painted with beautiful designs.

Borujerdiha Historical House

Borujerdiha Historical House is one of the historical monuments of Kashan. Boroujerdiha House is a symbol of Iranian introverted architecture and attracts every visitor. This house is one of the most exquisite historical monuments of the Qajar period in terms of design, architecture, antiquity, paintings and bedding.

According to the inscription on the four sides of the hall, the Boroujerdiha house dates back to 1292 AH and its construction took about 18 years.

The main owner of the Boroujerdi House in Kashan was Haj Seyyed Hassan Natanzi, a wealthy businessman living in Kashan.The reason for this letter is Seyed Hassan’s commercial relations with the city of Boroujerd, to call him Boroujerdi.

The construction of the Boroujerdiha house has a love story. Seyyed Hassan falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy Tabatabai family. The girl’s father announces the condition of marriage to build a house near Tabatabai’s house and its magnificent level.

Seyed Hassan accepts the condition and starts building the house.

The construction of the Boroujerdiha house in Kashan took 18 years.

Architecture

The foundation of Boroujerdiha house is one thousand square meters and its total area is 1700 square meters and it is built on two floors.

The house has a domed roof, and this design compares it to the buildings built by Gaud. In Barcelona.

The main building materials are raw clay and all the main structures of the building are made of raw clay with mud or gypsum mortar or a combination of them.

More than 150 buildings and artists have collaborated in the construction of the Boroujerdiha house. The famous master and architect of the 13th century AH, “Ali Maryam Kashani” is the main designer and builder of this house.

  The paintings and plastering were done under the supervision of the founder of the first painting school in Iran, Sania Al-Molk, and his nephew Kamal Al-Molk.

Windtower

One of the reasons for the fame of Boroujerdiha’s house is that the Windcatchers are made of brick.

  Three Windcatchers with a length of 40 meters are located on the roof. These Windcatchers perform the process of air conditioning and play an important role in cooling a building in the desert.

The Windcatchers of Boroujerdiha historical house are built from the roof to the basement and are connected to the groundwater.

Iranian historical houses were designed to have two general parts.

  The first part was a space called exterior “Biruni” that was accessible to everyone who entered the house. The second part was the space that only the occupants of the house had access to, and it was called the interior “Andaruni.” The Boroujerdiha House also follows this builder.

The architecture of Boroujerdiha’s house has been designed and executed in two general parts, “exterior and interior” and “winter room and summer room”.

Winter room

Rooms that received more sunlight were more popular in the winter.

These rooms were considered for the guests in winter due to the suitable heat and light.

Most of the winter room paintings have been done by Kamal al-Molk with oil paint.

Summer room

In the summer room, the roof of the house is higher, so better air flow cools the room. In this section, beautiful bedspreads and painted muqarnas on the ceiling have given a special beauty to the space. On the wall of the royal section, paintings of Qajar kings have been painted and its halls are decorated with images of birds, animals and flowers.

Tabatabaei Historical House

The Tabatabai historical house is known as the bride of the historical houses of Iran.

  This house in the Qajar period and by “Haj Seyed Jafar Tabatabai Natanzi”, is a Natanzi merchant living in Kashan and is known as Tabatabai house.

  The architect of the Tabatabai House was Master Ali Maryam Kashani, who built it in 10 years.

Since the owner of the house was a carpet merchant, the bedding designs were ultimately inspired by the splendor and beauty of Persian carpet designs.

Architecture of Tabatabai historical house

The Tabatabai House, like other historical buildings, has an originality of architecture and design appropriate to the specific climate of the region.

In the construction of old houses in Kashan, in addition to the climate and weather conditions, religious and Islamic beliefs have also been considered. This means that the interior of the house is not visible from outside the house, not even from the roof of neighboring houses.

Tabatabai’s house is built with the architecture of Sunken courtyard. Therefore, the house is resistant to earthquakes. When the house is built as Sunken courtyard, the house has thermal insulation. The house does not heat up or cool down quickly.

Kashan Tabatabai House has an area of 4,700 square meters and has 40 rooms.

The house consists of three parts: interior (ANDARUNI), exterior (BIRUNI) and crew section.

The whole house of Tabatabai is decorated with unique plasters and stained glass. The stained glass used in the building has given the house an extraordinary visual beauty. Architectural art can be seen in every part of the house.

Kashan Tabatabai House is known as one of the original Iranian-Islamic houses and is one of the masterpieces in Iranian architecture.

Tepe Sialk

History of Silk Hill

About fifty years BC, the cave dwellers of the Iranian plateau turned to the plains due to climate change and began a new life. The oldest people of the plains were the people of Sialk near Kashan, whose life traces have been discovered during excavations. The ancient site of Silk has a history of nearly seven thousand years.

Tepe Sialk is actually a ziggurat or shrine of ancient people made of clay and pottery.

How to discover Silk Hill

About eighty years ago, with the flood in Kashan’s agricultural lands, a civilization of several thousand years appeared;

One of the sights of this ancient region is the existence of several thousand years old pottery fragments on the ground and around these hills.

  The discovery of Spindle shows that these people are familiar with the Spinning.

  The inhabitants of this region made tools for themselves by melting metals. With the discovery of a metal smelting furnace in the southern part of this hill, the city of Silk can be considered one of the most industrial cities of that time.

The results of excavations on Tepe Sialk of civilization divide it into six distinct cultural periods.

The first and second period

This period is related to the oldest or the first inhabitants of the northern hill, which was formed about seven thousand years ago.

The early inhabitants lived in makeshift huts, which they built with branches and covered Mud. It is possible that people living in the northern hills baked their pottery in kilns.

In the second period, geometric patterns were used on the surfaces of the pottery. The people of this period were hunting, farming and sheepherding.

The people of Silk buried their dead under the floors of their houses with gifts.

Third period

About 6,100 years ago, the inhabitants of the northern hills changed their place of residence and moved to the southern hills.

In the middle of the third period, people used pottery wheels. During this period, pottery was baked in special ovens whose temperature could be controlled. In addition to previous motifs, human motifs were also used to decorate this pottery.

  Silk artisans learned how to extract silver from ore and made ornaments from silver.

Fourth period

This period dates back to about 5,000 years ago and is known as the beginning of writing or the beginning of the urban period. The most important cultural development of this period is the emergence of early writing. In this period, cylindrical seals were used in animal or geometric shapes, which showed the commercial and commercial progress in that period.

The fifth period

This period is related to the migration of new immigrants to Silk. The most important culture of these tribes is to make gray pottery.

The houses of these immigrants were built on the remains of buildings of the previous period.

In the fifth period, the dead were buried in separate cemeteries.

The sixth period

During this period, the entire surface of the hill was flattened and as a result, the architecture of the fifth period was completely destroyed. Burial culture changed slightly, and some tombs were covered with hewn stones or large bricks, reflecting the status of the dead. 200 tombs from this period have been excavated.

if the antient hills are interested for you, can join us in Iran antient hills tour.

Tradition

rose water festival

rose water festival is one of the most famous Iranian traditions. This tradition is practiced in Fars province and Kashan and the surrounding areas. This traditional celebration has a special atmosphere due to its spring season and the flowering of Damask rose in Kashan farms.

History of Kashan rose water festival

Damask rose is one of the most important agricultural products of Iran and is one of the native plants of the country. The seeds of this flower were first sent from Iran to Turkey and then to Syria and Bulgaria during the Safavid rule. Iranian rose is one of the most important export goods of Iran from the past until now. In the past, Iranian roses were sent to China and India via the Silk Road, and today, Iranian roses are sent to other parts of the world.

Kashan rose water season

The rose watering season of Kashan begins in mid-spring and continues until the end of this season. Kashan Rose water Festival continues from the beginning to the end of Damask rose flower harvest.

The best time of day for picking Damask rose flowers is the first hours of the day and before sunshine.  Rose water produced from flowers arranged before sunrise is of high quality.

How to make rose water

The harvested flowers are poured into large copper pots. These copper boilers are connected to pipes that end in other containers. The steam from boiling Damask rose is converted into rose water by passing through pipes and reaching cold water chambers.

If the distillation process is repeated again, a pure rose water is obtained, which is very thick and has a unique aroma.

Kashan is a city full of historical sights and is known as the cradle of traditional Iranian civilization and culture. Visiting Kashan in spring creates a different experience for tourists and makes a memorable trip for them.

2-Mashhad Ardehal

the seconded touristic villages in Isfahan is Mashhad Ardehal is located 42 km west of Kashan.

Due to the mountainous location of Mashhad Ardehal has cold winters and cool summers.

The city is known for its special tradition called “carpet washing” and every year many tourists travel to the city to see the ceremony.

  The tomb of Sohrab Sepehri is also considered as a tourist attraction in Mashhad Ardehal.

Noshabad underground city of Kashan

Coincidentally, an underground city belonging to the Sassanid rule was discovered, which is now one of the most amazing attractions of Nooshabad.

It is the largest underground city in the world and the largest man-made architecture in the world.

Experts believe that with the hard material of the land of this region and this historic city, the excavation of this city was probably done with diamond tools. The vessels discovered in the underground city of Noshabad show that the people used the underground shelter the most during the Mongol and Timurid invasions.

3-Niyasar

the third touristic villages in Isfahan and One of the most pleasant areas in Kashan is the historical city of Niasar. This city attracts many tourists with its attractive historical and natural places.

By traveling to Niasar in the spring, you can also take part in the rose-water ceremony.

 Niasar waterfall has beautiful and extraordinary views. This waterfall is also a unique place for medicinal plants to grow.

The most prominent historical place of Niasar is Chahartaghi. This place is a rectangular building that was built by order of Ardeshir Babakan during the Sassanid era and in the past was part of a fire temple and a place for religious ceremonies.

Bath and water mill is another tourist attraction of Niasar and it dates back to the Safavid era. The way of working, architecture and water transfer from the famous Niasar waterfall, has made the bath and water mill of this city famous.

4- Qamsar

Qamsar is other one of touristic villages in Isfahan located 25 km south of Kashan.

 Qamsar has a very pristine and beautiful nature. This city is known for its Damask rose flowers.

The best time to visit Qamsar Kashan is on Ordibehesht 15-25, on which date you can participate in the Qamsar Rose Festival.

Sarai Khatoon

Sarai Khatoon is one of the tourist places of Qamsar that has modern and at the same time Islamic architecture. House plastering is unique. The mirrors of this house are similar to Aali Qapo of Isfahan and Shahcheragh of Shiraz.

Bird Garden

 In the bird garden with an area of 10,000 hectares, birds from 17 different countries have been collected.

Qamsar Rose Museum

In this museum, you will learn about the history of two thousand years and how to prepare rose water. In this Qajar building, the equipment needed for rose water can be seen.

5-Abyaneh

the last and most famuse touristic villages in Isfahan is Abyaneh village, one of the special and spectacular villages of Isfahan province. Abyaneh is also popular with domestic and foreign tourists. The natives of Abyaneh village continue to wear their traditional clothing. The buildings of the village, which are located at the foot of the mountain, are red, this color has given Abyaneh a double charm.

In fact, the combination of narrow alleys that lead to each other, geometric windows, inlaid doors, etc. is spectacular and attractive to any viewer and is the subject of tourist photography.