Shazdeh Garden

About 2 km from the city of Mahan and near the Kerman city in the southeast of Iran, and in the foothills of the Tigran Mountains, there is a historical and scenic garden called “Shazdeh Garden”. Shazdeh Garden, built in the late Qajar period and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011 along with eight other Iranian gardens, attracts many tourists from all over the world every year. Shazdeh Garden has been built on a land with an area of about 5.5 hectares, 407 meters long, and 122 meters wide. The garden has two eastern and western complexes, its pavilion and the facade have beautiful architecture and elegance, and its fountains along the garden are among the most beautiful fountains of Iranian gardens that work on the basis of height difference.

History of Shazdeh Garden

Shazdeh Garden

One of the factors that made this place suitable for the construction of an aristocratic garden, is its location that is on the Kerman-Bam road and the old Silk Road. The garden was originally built in 1850 by order of Mohammad Hassan Khan Sardar Irvani, the ruler of Kerman. Its pavilion was built in 1870 during the 11-year rule of Abdul Hamid Mirza Nasser al-Dawla, the next ruler of Kerman.

Garden architecture

Shazdeh Garden

This rectangular garden is an example of a Persian flat garden and is 407 meters long and 122 meters wide. The garden buildings are also divided into three categories: the entrance building which is located at the entrance, the main building located at the end of the garden, and other service buildings that are built near the main wall and outside it. At the entrance to the garden, a two-floor building has been built, with the upper floor providing rooms for guests. The main pavilion, which is the residence of the owner, is built at the end of the garden. The facade of Shazdeh Garden is designed so that when the visitor is under the arch, he can immediately see the beautiful view of the garden, the main pavilion, the pools, and the fountains. In fact, the viewer does not need to have architectural knowledge to understand the art of the Shazdeh Garden architect. Because the balance, elegance and harmony between the natural elements with the garden buildings, shows the artistry of masters of Kerman and Mahan in the Qajar period at first glance.

Natural elements of Shazdeh Garden

Shazdeh Garden

In Shazdeh Garden, there are coniferous trees such as pine, cypress, sycamore, and poplar to fruit trees. The beautiful stream of the Shazdeh Garden under the shade of the trees attracts every visitor. The whole space of the garden is built considering the stream location and the source of the garden’s stream is the continuation of the surrounding mountain space.

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