Rostam Giv Water Reservoir

🕰️When was it built?

Work began in 1941, during the Second World War, and took two years. Rostam Giv, the Zoroastrian member of parliament, paid for it; Haj Mohammad Ebrahim Khorramshahi was the architect and Jamshid Amanat supervised the work.

🏛️What was it built for?

The cylindrical tank held about 2,300 cubic metres of water. The reservoir had two entrances so that the Zoroastrian and Muslim neighbourhoods, about two kilometres apart, could both draw water from it. When the qanats dried up, the tank was left empty too.

👀What you will see

• The dome is turnip-shaped, and a cypress pattern is laid into it in brick.
• Four tall windcatchers open on all four sides stand beside the dome and form the building's ventilation.
• The tank beneath the dome is cylindrical, about fourteen metres across and fifteen metres deep.
• It is built with special reservoir bricks and sarooj mortar, materials used for structures that hold water.
• The entrance portal and blind arches are patterned and framed, so the decoration is not limited to the dome.

🎒Good to know before you go

• To see the cypress pattern, look closely at the brickwork of the dome; the design is made with the bricks themselves.