Sabzeh Meydan Complex

🕰️When was it built?

The complex was built on the order of Sardar Moazzaz, son of Yar Mohammad Khan Shadlu, to house his guests. The caravanserai was for guests who did not fit into the governor's private residence. The complex survives from the Qajar era and is on Iran's National Heritage List.

🏛️What was it built for?

Sabzeh Meydan was more than a place to stay; hawkers came here with carts and barrows to sell fruit, vegetables and groceries. The teahouses around were where traders rested and chatted. The caravanserai, bazaar and bath met the different needs of travellers and townspeople side by side.

👀What you will see

• The cells are built around the central courtyard, each with an iwan about two and a half metres wide and an arched vault in front.
• Above the semicircular arches, raised bricks are laid in a khofteh-o-rasteh pattern; look closely at the corners above the arches.
• The floor of the central courtyard is about twenty centimetres lower than the spaces around it; the difference in height with the cell iwans is clear.
• The bathhouse in the north-east of the complex has shallow brick vaults and brick decoration; a narrow entrance corridor leads to an octagonal changing hall.

💡Something interesting

In the middle of the square stood a large two-pan scale for weighing goods. Old residents of Bojnurd remember Sabzeh Meydan for this scale, the hawkers' carts and its teahouses, a picture of everyday trade beside the cells of the caravanserai.

🎒Good to know before you go