Visiting Qanats World City

Gonabad is a city in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. It is mostly well known because of the Gonabadi Dervishes and for its qanats or kareez.

Agricultural products include: Saffron, Grape, Pistachio and pomegranate. Some of the historical sites, ancient artifacts and tourism are Qanats of Gonabad, Zibad Castle, Jameh Mosque of Gonabad and Anthropological Museum.

As a symbol of civilization, tradition and culture in desert regions with arid climate and an outstanding example of using architectural complicated systems in Iran, qanat is a tunnel-like channel underground which collects water from a main water source named “mother well” in order to conduct water along tunnels. There are Eleven Persian Qanats which are located in six provinces and have been registered as the twentieth cultural heritage of Iran.

One of the world’s oldest and largest networks of qanats (underground aqueducts) is the Qanats of Ghasabeh. Qasabeh Qanat in Gonabad is the oldest and deepest Qanat in Iran. It is also called Kariz Kai Khosrow due to its link to the legendary king of Iran Kay Khosrow. The complex contains 427 water wells with a total length of 33,113 metres and was built by the Achaemenid Empire between 700 and 500 BCE. In 2007, the site was added to UNESCO’s list of tentative World Heritage Sites, then in 2016, it was officially inscribed as “The Persian Qanat collectively with several other qanats.