Yazd City

Yazd City, the capital of Yazd province, is a historic city in Iran, which is located about 500 miles southeast of Tehran.
In a Farsi source, the date of the foundation of this city is linked to the time of Alexander (c. 320 B.C.) as he ordered
the construction of a prison in this location to keep Persian princes.

The historic cities of Iran, founded centuries ago, host many features of the indigenous architecture of Iran. The indigenous ( or the clay) architecture of Iran is a unique architectural genre characterized by the use of mud-bricks
as well as dome-like roofs for the ceilings. Traditional tiles and tile-works, furthermore, are used for the interior and exterior decorations of the buildings.

Many features of the indigenous (or clay) architecture are present in Yazd City, such as Yazd's Jam'a Mosque, (c. A.D. 15th century), , baazaars, domes, vaulted ceilings, and arches by mud-bricks, and clay, koochehes (narrow alleyways), and the qanat irrigation system, and many wind-catching towers ( baadgeirs ) .

Because of a modernization process in Iran from about 1950s, however, the clay architecture in Iran, as well as in Yazd, has been abandoned and historic buildings and structures have been demolished to be replaced by apartment complexes and by modern buildings made up of metal skeleton and concrete blocks. The present series seeks to collect images of the survived, architectural features in the historic cities of Iran before they are completely wiped out in a modernization process.

The revised edition of the Volume VII of this series (copyright 2021), invites viewers to A Visual Journey To
Yazd City for a review of the samples of the clay ( or the indigenous) architecture in this historic city, which
hosts rich samples of the clay architecture, which is known as The Yazd School of the indigenous (or clay)
architecture in Iran. Finally, Yazd City is in the process by being registered by the UNESCO as world's heritage
city due to many unique, clay, architectural features.