TEHRAN – The stepped village of Kang in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi has been inscribed on the national heritage list. 

The national registration of the village will lead to its better preservation as well as help tourism development in the region, IRNA quoted the province’s deputy tourism chief Marjan Akbari as saying on Wednesday.

Kang, with an antiquity of more than 3,000 years, is situated at a distance of some 30 km from Mashhad, the provincial capital.

The village, located on the highlands of Mount Binalud, is also adjacent to Nishabur, known for its turquoise handicrafts and mines.

The village is also known as ‘Khorasan’s Masouleh’, as its bizarre architecture -each house is built on another’s rooftop, most of which having porch-balconies and earthen roofs- can also be found in Masouleh, a historical village in northern Iran. 

Roughly a millennium old, Masouleh is one of the most famous villages in Iran, and hence one of its most touristic ones.

Also known as the historical city of Masouleh, it features the earth-colored houses that are stacked photogenically on top of one another like giant Lego blocks, clinging to a mountainside so steep that the roof of one house forms the pathway for the next.

The existence of numerous graveyards inner and outside of the city proves its old texture. Storied and terracing plan of the city is in parallel to the mountain slope.

Uraman in the west of the country is also another stepped village, which is considered a cradle of Kurdish art and culture from the days of yore. 

Stretched on a steep slope in Uraman Takht rural district of Sarvabad County, the village is home to dense and step-like rows of houses in a way that roof of each house forms the yard of the upper one, a feature that adds to its charm and attractiveness.

ABU/MG