Mortaz Ali Well

🕰️When was it built?

The exact date of the complex is not known, but parts of it are thought to go back to before Islam. The building was altered and rebuilt in modern times, so its present form should not be taken as the original. The complex is on Iran's National Heritage List.

🏛️What was it built for?

The rooms around the well were used by mystics for worship and seclusion, and the complex also has two cisterns. Its place high on the mountain sets it apart from the city, and reaching it means a hike.

👀What you will see

• The stone facade of the building marks the many-roomed complex high on Mount Haft Tanan.
• The rooms open into one another, and the building also has an underground part.
• Two cisterns stand beside the building, separate from the well itself.
• The well is about 3 metres deep, and the rooms used for worship were built around it.

💡Something interesting

Henri Massé wrote of an old custom at the well of cooking a pot of ash, a thick soup, for the poor. In the same account, people believed that if a prayer stone stuck to the rock, their prayer would be answered; this was a local belief, not a proven fact.

🎒Good to know before you go

• The way to the complex climbs through the foothills; wear proper shoes for the slope and the steps.