In search of Iranian paradise

When experts in the thirty-fifth session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Paris rose from their desks, 9 Iranian green gardens were considered to be the world's heritage.
These 9 gardens are representatives of hard work of Iranian architects to sample the terrestrial paradise; The Pasargadae Garden as Cyrus's souvenir, the garden of Eram in Shiraz, the garden of "Fin" in Kashan, the garden of Abbas Abad in Behshahr, the garden of Shazde in Mahan, Kermani, gardens of Dowlat Abad and Pahlevan Pour in Yazd, the garden of Akbariye in Birjand and the ever green garden of Chehel Sotun in Esfahani. If you want to visit all these 9 Persian gardens on a journey and enjoy their full glory, you can come with us; a Path that "Arash Nourafaei"- colleague in Sarzamine Man has planned it; we start from Pasargadae which its remnants can still be seen near its cause, Cyrus the Great. In order to visit Eram, we should go to Shiraz, for seeing Mahan; we must go to the middle of the desert. The path between Kerman and Yazd is not a long way. If you go to see 2 Iranian Paradises in Yazd, desert still continues until we pass Tabas and get to Birjand. We should abandon Akbariye of Birjand in order to get to the Ferdows. From Nishapur onwards, we travel the same path as those whom aspired for silk.
Next station is Behshahr. If we travel from north of Iran to south, we can get to Qom from Semnan and eventually we arrive in Kashan. Our final station of this trip is the green garden of Chehel Sotun in Isfahan, a place where Shah Abbas expected his guests in his time.

1-Pasargadae

First garden

To see the first Iranian garden which became the model of all succeding four gardens, we should visit an unutilized land of Pasargadae garden which is 135 kilometers away from green gardens. Historical texts depict this unutilized land as a green garden which in its rocky streams of flowed life-giving water and there were lush and tall cedars on both sides of its sreams. By designing Pasargadae garden Cyrus the Great showed that besides overcoming the world, he also knew the way of the garden designing. After his death Cyrus was buried near the garden, so he can still see himself in his green Paradise, Apparently this is after him that making gardens around the tombs of the great people becomes a tradition. By the help of the stony streams, Cyrus devided Pasargadae into 4 parts so it became the model for the next four Iranian gardens. After sightseeing Cyrus's unutilized garden you should go135 kilometers away from the fisrt of four Iranian gardens in ordet to see Shiraz and its beauties.

2-Eram: Ghashghaei Cupressus sempervirens

Of all the spectacular Gardens of Shiraz, only Eram garden became a UNESCO World Heritage. You can see Eram with its all cedars, flowers and plants and large buildings on Eram Street of this historical city. If you wanted to visit the garden before Pahlavi era, it was unlikely that you could easily pass the entrance, for over 70 years, the garden and its fresh weather were in the possession of the Khans of Shiraz's Qashqai but now all the incomes of the gardens as well as the ticket which you pay for entering the garden are for Shiraz University. Like all visitors, you perhaps before anything else will be attracted to the colorful mansion in the center of the garden and the well-formed designs on the curved front of the building which you can see the depiction of unsuccessful battles of the Qajar kings or stories of the Iranian hero-Rustam on them. The Clear water of the pool in front of the garden will catch your eyes will be But it is better that you break its spell as fast as you can because Eram has much more beauties to see and admire. These beauties are such as the 35-meter cedar of the garden which is the tallest cedar of Shiraz and colorful plants and flowers which are unparalleled in the East. But time is short and Shazde garden in Kerman is waiting for us. After Shiraz, we should pass sarvestan, Estahban, Neyriz, Herat and Shahre babak and then we are in Mahan city.

3-Shazdeh Garden

A Garden amid desert

On of the Wonders of the Lut Desert is Shazde garden which is located outside Mahan city on the edge of the desert and on the hillside of Tigran Mountain. Before entering the garden, you will hear the continuous sound of water, it runs over 407 meters and in front of the entrance of the garden comes out of earth and continues its way. The beautiful enterance of Shazde garden was not made to pass from. The best and most spectacular mansion of the garden is undoubtedly the entrance, ofcourse it was left unfinished after its architect heared the news of death of Abdul Hamid Mirza- the ruler of Kerman. The best view of the garden can be seen from the second floor of the entrance, the view of its step by step creek and at the background of the garden fountains and a white palace surrounding by trees. All purling water is due to the cascades located in sharp parts of each floor and the fountains that throw water from morning to night to the sky. You can see the most beautiful view of the garden after sunset when the white mansion of the garden and fountains are colorful due to the colored lights of the spotlight shedding on them. Leave the colorful Shazde to himself, spectacular gardens of Yazd are yet to come.

4-Dolat Abad

It was green …

Dolat Abad garden of Yazd is famous for its 33-meter tall louver rather than its lovely green trees. Although 260 years ago Mohammad Taghi Khan Bafghi tried hard to make his garden green and beautiful but at this time his garden is not very verdant. The first thing that catches your eyes while entering the garden is the colorful brick mansion at the end of the long pool of the garden. Whatever they have tried over the years, old cedars and pines of the garden have not been able to be as tall as the louver. Special skill of this tall louver is catching the winds unattainable by short louvers. The Polyhedral building of Dolat Abad garden is equipped with giant sashes which break hot rays of the desert sun and send into soft colorful lights. If just one of the sashes is open, the gentle breeze scented by roses and mohammadi flowers of the garden and cooled by the pool fills the building. Colorful lights of spotlight after sunset make Dolat Abad palace much more spectacular than ever. The garden provides tea and food as well, so if you have not already eaten somewhere, be the guest of tearoom and restaurant of the garden and do not hurry, next heaven is at hand.

5-Pahlevan Poor

The thirsty garden

The name of Mehriz has been entered to the World Heritage List because of its Pahlevan Pour. Pahlevan Pour garden has its prosperity due to Hassan Abad subterranean canal which brings its life-giving liquid from kilometers away but the garden's trees and plants are so thirsty so two other subterranean canals of Shah Hoseini and Mazvir Abad come together to help. Without the help of invisible water of subterranean canals, Iranian architects and garden decorators could never build such green gardens in the heart of the desert. Like all the Persian gardens, the most spectacular mansion of Pahlevan Pour garden is its central mansion which is surrounded by old sycamore trees as well as fruitl trees of pomegranate, almond and persimmon. Except the two-floor central mansion Pahlevan Pour has a winter building which is the warmest part of the garden in cold winters of Yazd. Like all Iranian desert gardens, Pahlevan Pour of Mehriz is captured by a brick tower; it makes the interior part of the garden as a private space for its residents. We leave Pahlevan Pour to itself. After passing Kharaegh, Robat and spectacular Tabas, we visit Akbariye garden of Birjand.

6-Akbariye

Garden of the prime minister

You can see the garden of the family of Asadollah Alam on Moallem Street in Birjand; building of the garden began in time of Alam's grandfather- Heshmatol Malek and continued in his Father's time, it was finished in the time of the Prime Minister- Asadolah Alam from 1341 to 1342. Soaring Pines escort visitors from the garden entrance to the central building, pomegranants and berry trees as well as amaranth flowers are present in all corners of the garden. The old mansion which was built in the early Qajar period in order to be a place for the reception of guests and foreign representatives, it is now the place of art students. The mansion of Shokatol Malek is now the museum of archaeology and anthropology. Other parts of the garden are now office, traditional restaurant and teahouse. If we can abandon the inlaid and net-like decorations and sashes filled with colored glasses of the mansion and its cool pool and green trees of Akbariye garden, we can depart to Abbas Abad- one of the few historic gardens of the green north, so we should go to Behshahr in order to visit Abbas Abad garden.

7-Abbas Abad

Whether Shah Abbas made The Abbas Abad prosperous or it was so it is not clear but we are sure that this garden was named after the third king of the Safavid, Because the area was called Khargouran until the year of 1020 A.H. Abbas Abad is a green garden on the edge of a natural lake that is as a stratified garden in the division of Iranian gardens. To arrive at the green set of Safavid Shah, you should deviate from Behshahr-Gorgan road to the village of Al Tappeh, after passing through the village, you will arrive at the most prominen non-desert garden of Iran. There Abbas Abad dam, reservoir and the river behind dam, garden, palace, bath, water mill and 2 old towers are waiting for you. Due to convenient roadway, possibility to stay, historic buildings and good weather, Abbas Abad can be a good choice for traveling to north of the country. To continue our way, you should finally desert Abbas Abad and its good air and go to the desert. Travel along The road which passes from Semnan, Tehran and Qom, in Kashan you ask about another example of Shah Abbas's gardens.

8-Fin

Land of cedars and sycamores

Safavid, Zand, Qajar and Pahlavi have been involved in construction of Fin Garden. Even some historians consider Ale Buyie rulers of the fifth century as its original founders but the garden in its present form was built under the reign of Abbas I of Persia . To see the beauties and charms of Fin you should pass Fin Blv. Shortly after the historic Silk, Finn will be found behind brick walls. The oldest building of the garden is the central mansion which is watching itself in the large swimming pool located in the middle of the garden from Shah Abbas II era onwards; The cedars and sycamores of the garden are not younger than the Safavid mansion; Most of the trees in the garden are between 100 and 470 years old and they are still young. The source of living water of Finn is Sulaimaniyah spring, it overflows from fountains and moves in turquoise brooks, and finally it gathers in the central pool. The Map of the garden was perfectly symmetrical at first, but later architects ignored this basic principle of Iranian gardens and built different buildings on every corner of the garden, including Karim Khani building at the end of the garden and Qajar mansion and the pool in its neighborhood. We say goodbye to asymmetric Fin garden and look at the remaining parts of the garden city of Isfahan.

9-Chehel Sotoun

The reception garden

Today, with the exception of Chehel Sotoun and Hasht Behesht, not any other green spot is left in the Safavi garden city of Isfahan. These two green spots are in fact the only gardens which have been survived from Qajari ruler of Isfahan- Zellol Sultan. You can find Chehel Sotoun in the west part of Imam Khomeini square. This garden includes a central pavilion, a long swimming pool and a lot of trees embracing the central building. Trees of the garden have found their way inside it because the trunks of the giant plane-trees tolerate the weight of the roof of the main hall, the hall of mirrors and the errace. The mansion was called Chehel Sotoun due to the large number of these sycamore columns. In this palace, Shah Abbas II and his successors received dignitaries and ambassadors, either on the terrace or in one of the stately reception halls. As with Ali Qapu, the palace contains many frescoes and paintings on ceramic on the walls of the main halls of the garden. They depict specific historical scenes such as a reception for an Uzbek King in 1646. There are also less historical, but even more aesthetic compositions in the traditional miniature style which celebrate the joy of life and love. At the end of our long trip, Chehel Sotoon is reminiscent of Iranian gardens. 9 Iranian gardens listed in the UNESCO's World Heritage List, perhaps are representatives of Iranian's relaxed mood and signs of honor and respect that our ancestors showed to the trees and plants of our land.