Haft Berkeh (Seven Cisterns), Gerash

🕰️When was it built?

The complex goes back to the centuries after the coming of Islam, but the seven cisterns were not all built at the same time. It was added to the National Heritage List on 27 December 1976 as number 1327. The stone inscription of the Haj Abolhasan cistern records the name of its founder and his family tie to the builder of the Chartakh cistern.

🏛️What was it built for?

These cisterns were built to collect and store water. In the Haj Abolhasan cistern the tank is round, and channels for water to flow in and out sit beside the openings. The walls and portals are built of stone and gypsum mortar, and the dome is coated with sarooj.

👀What you will see

• Five cisterns with domed roofs beside two open ones, which give the complex its varied shape.
• The Haj Abolhasan cistern, the largest in the complex, with its round tank.
• Stone steps in the wall of the Haj Abolhasan tank, which run down to the floor on the side of the south-east opening.
• The pointed arches of the openings and the muqarnas of the second and fifth portals of the Haj Abolhasan cistern.
• The inscription over the north-east opening, which names Haj Abolhasan, son of Haj Hasan, as the founder of the cistern.

🎒Good to know before you go

• To tell the cisterns apart, compare the shapes of their roofs and the sizes of their tanks.