TEHRAN – More than 1,700 caravanserais dating back to the Sasanian and Qajar eras remain across Iran, and about 60% of them are still in use or have the potential for restoration, a university researcher said.
Hassan Bastanirad, a professor at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University and director of the university’s Silk Road Research Center, told ISNA that only a small portion of the inns along these roads have fallen into disrepair. “Most of it is repairable and can be reused,” he said.
Bastanirad said some of the caravanserais were built on the foundations of earlier buildings, reflecting architectural continuity over the centuries. “Its origins date back to the Sassanid period and lasted until the late Qajar period,” he said, citing the stone Akhvan caravanserai in Semnan province as an example of a later structure built next to ruins.
He recalled that 54 Iranian caravanserais are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as a series of properties known as the “Persian Caravanserais”. Six of them are in Semnan province.
Bastanirad said Iran’s cultural heritage along the Silk Road extends beyond the caravanserai. “We also have an important collection of historic bridges, many of which still exist in provinces such as Lorestan,” he said.
Caravanserais were once located along trade routes and pilgrimage routes, providing shelter, food and water for caravans and travelers. This series, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, represents the most notable examples of these buildings, reflecting Iran’s architectural diversity and climate adaptation. These ruins show how caravanserais facilitated travel and the exchange of ideas and culture between regions in pre-modern times.
Caravanserai is also written as caravansary and is a coined word combining “caravan” and “sera or sala”. The former represents a group of travelers, the latter a building. Often there were huge portals supported by high load-bearing walls. The guest rooms were built around a courtyard and stables behind it, with a door in the corner of the garden.
For many travelers, staying in or visiting a centuries-old caravanserai can be a wide-ranging experience. They have the opportunity to experience the past – time travel to forgotten eras.
Cozy rooms meticulously arranged around a vast courtyard may easily evoke the spirit of the past. It’s not hard to imagine the hustle and bustle of camels chewing hay, merchants haggling over prices, and stories of each other’s arduous journeys. You can also get an idea of local architectural styles and materials from their heyday.
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