Old City of Yazd

One of the most complete mud-brick cities in the world, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2017. The quarters are built of sun-dried brick and covered with the same clay plaster as the walls, so the whole district has an even sandy colour and from a distance merges with the desert. The streets are deliberately narrow and winding: that way the shade lasts longer and the sandy wind loses its force at the turns. Some of the lanes are roofed over with vaults — these are sabats, covered passages that connect the houses on either side of the street and at the same time work as a canopy against the sun. Above the roofs rise badgirs, wind towers that catch any movement of air and direct it downwards, into the living rooms and to the underground water reservoirs. The knockers on the old doors come in pairs and in different shapes: a heavy one for men and a light one for women, so that from the sound those inside the house knew who had come.

On the map