Komarej Caravanserai, Kazerun

🕰️When was it built?

The caravanserai dates from the Safavid era and was added to the National Heritage List in 2005 as number 15354. The exact year it was built is not known. Its four-iwan plan is an old Iranian way of building, used to organise the courtyard, the cells and the rear parts.

🏛️What was it built for?

The cells around the courtyard were built for travellers to stay in, and behind the rooms on the east and west sides were the stables for pack animals. Passages in the corners of the building led to the rear parts and the stables, and the rooms opened onto the courtyard through the iwans.

👀What you will see

• The entrance on the south side is a chahartaqi-shaped passage, its ceiling covered with simple plaster karbandi vaulting.
• On the east and west sides of the entrance passage are matching rooms that lead into other rooms.
• The frames of the doors, windows and iwans are built with round arches, and plaster decoration is used in the blind arches.
• The main roof is flat with a gentle slope, but over some larger rooms there is a vaulted roof.
• Daylight reached the rooms through openings in the roof or windows, and stone and plaster were the main building materials.

🎒Good to know before you go

• In the entrance passage, notice the plaster karbandi of the ceiling and the matching rooms on either side; this part shows how the way into the courtyard was designed.