Robat-e Qoli, Jajarm

🕰️When was it built?

The building is tied to the Timurid and Safavid eras, and its construction is attributed to Amir Alishir Navai. The robat was added to Iran's National Heritage List on 15 December 1996 as number 1806. Travellers kept using this roadside stop in later periods too.

🏛️What was it built for?

The cells around the courtyard were for caravans to rest, and two shahneshins in the north-east and south-west of the courtyard gave a resting place for elders and caravan leaders. Besides the trade route, the robat also lay on the pilgrimage road to Mashhad and mattered as an overnight stop.

👀What you will see

• The coloured stones of the walls are set together in gypsum mortar; find the green and blue-grey beside the red and purple.
• The east entrance has the remains of an inscription above it; part of the text is lost.
• Two towers stand beside the entrance; the southern tower is more damaged, so don't go into the worn part.
• Four iwans on the four sides of the courtyard and the cells around it make up the main inner space.
• The two shahneshins in the north-east and south-west corners are among the defining spaces beside the courtyard; seeing inside depends on whether you can go in.

💡Something interesting

Naser al-Din Shah stayed in this robat on his second journey to Mashhad. This royal stop, beside its use by pilgrims and caravans, shows the building was not made for just one kind of traveller.