Kandovan Rock Village

Kandovan is a village in the mountains of East Azerbaijan, roughly sixty kilometres south of Tabriz, at the foot of the volcanic massif of Sahand. The slope here is made of compacted volcanic ash, which water and wind have eaten away into separate cones, and for many generations the local people have hollowed the rock out from within, turning these cones into dwellings. The result is two- and three-storey buildings with windows and doors cut straight into the rock, with wooden balconies and outside staircases; the byre usually takes the lower level and the living quarters the upper ones. The rock is soft and yields easily to a pick, but it hardens in the open air, and its mass keeps warmth in winter and coolness in summer, so the houses need almost no heating. The village is thought to have been inhabited for at least seven hundred years: by tradition, people from the settlements around withdrew here from the Mongol invasion. Kandovan remains a living village rather than a museum, and families live in the cones. Below, an old stone bridge is thrown across the gorge. Kandovan is a living village and not a museum: families live in the cones, so nobody walks into the yards without asking, and residents are photographed only with permission. Entry to the village is free, and some of the houses have been converted into guesthouses and shops. It is about 60 km from Tabriz, reached by car or on a tour; in Iran, count on cash.

On the map