Towers of Silence of Yazd

🕰️When was it built?

The towers on the hill were not built at the same time. The Manekji tower dates from the Qajar period and the Golestan Banu tower from the Pahlavi era. The Jamshid tower is attributed to the Safavid period; it stood beside Golestan Banu and is now completely ruined.

🏛️What was it built for?

For Zoroastrians it mattered not to pollute the earth. The bodies of the dead were laid on a stone surface in the open air, and the bones were later moved to a central pit. This was the work of a person called the nasasalar, and the pit was called the astodan, the place of bones.

👀What you will see

• The Manekji and Golestan Banu towers stand on top of the low sedimentary hill of the dakhmeh.
• A high round wall encloses the open area of each tower so that animals on the ground could not get in.
• The central pit was cut into the rock so that the bones gathered there without touching the soil.
• The stone floor inside a tower had three rings, which kept the places for men, women and children apart.

💡Something interesting

These towers once stood outside the city, but as Yazd grew they ended up inside it. The word astodan comes from Avestan words for bone, which explains what this part of the structure was for.

🎒Good to know before you go

• Reaching the towers on the hill means walking uphill, so wear shoes that are comfortable on rocky ground.