TEHRAN – Work has begun on the construction of the Grand Museum of Yazd, a cultural project planned inside a historic mansion in the UNESCO-listed city of Yazd, officials said on Sunday.

The museum is being built with an allocation of 250 billion rials ($250,000) on a 5,000-square-metre site, said Ebrahim Kazemnazhand, the museum’s executive director, CHTN reported.

Kazemnazhand said the project is located within the Sadr al-Olama mansion, a historic residence featuring four courtyards designed according to the principles of Persian gardens. The building includes three levels of residential spaces with a central hall, decorated brick façades, and stained-glass doors.

The mansion also features windcatchers, vaulted ceilings, marble columns, and plaster ornamentation, reflecting traditional Iranian architectural elements, he added.

Kazemnazhand said the museum will act as a special cultural heritage museum, presenting glimpses of the history and culture of Yazd province while supporting other museums across the region.

The first phase of the project focuses on restoration and rehabilitation, including the creation of a secure storage facility for historical objects covering 380 square meters and a conservation laboratory of 100 square meters.

He said completion of the restoration of surrounding spaces is expected by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, with the aim of opening parts of the museum to visitors by the Persian New Year in spring 2026.

Yazd, located 270 km southeast of Isfahan on the Iranian plateau, is recognized by UNESCO for its well-preserved earthen architecture, qanat water system, traditional houses, bazaars, hammams, mosques, synagogues, Zoroastrian temples, and the historic Dolat-abad garden.

A don’t miss destination

In July 2017, the historical core of Yazd, the provincial capital, was named a UNESCO World Heritage site. Yazd is regularly referred to as a delightful place to stay, or a “don’t miss” destination by almost all of its visitors. The city is full of mudbrick houses that are equipped with innovative badgirs (wind catchers), atmospheric alleyways, and many Islamic and Iranian monuments that shape its eye-catching city landscape.

Cultural heritage experts believe that Yazd is a living testimony to the intelligent use of limited available resources in the desert for survival. Water is brought to the city by the qanat system. Each district of the city is built on a qanat and has a communal center. Furthermore, the use of earth in buildings includes walls and roofs through the construction of vaults and domes. Houses are built with courtyards below ground level, serving underground areas. Wind-catchers, courtyards, and thick earthen walls create a pleasant microclimate.

The historical core of Yazd is chockfull of mudbrick houses, bazaars, public bathhouses, water cisterns, mosques, synagogues, Zoroastrian temples, and centuries-old gardens. From the divine point of view, the city enjoys the peaceful coexistence of three religions: Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism.

Yazd is home to numerous qanats which have supplied water to agricultural and permanent settlements for thousands of years. The man-carved underground qanat system relies on snow-fed streams flowing down the foothills of surrounding mountains. The earliest water supply to Yazd is estimated to date from the Sassanid era (224 to 651 CE). However, many others have been continually repaired and used over time, and most surviving Ab-Anbars (traditional mudbrick cisterns) can today be traced to the late Safavid and Qajar periods.

AM