TEHRAN – A team of cultural heritage experts and restorers has commenced work on a Safavid-era (1501-1736) caravanserai, which is located in Lasjerd, north-central Semnan province.

The restoration project entails wooden elements of the caravanserai as well as the replacement of carpet floors with the same traditional bricks, a local tourism official said on Saturday, CHTN reported.

Some 160 km from Tehran, Lasjerd caravanserai is close to the main Tehran-Mashhad highway. It has two verandas and 24 chambers, built with mortar and bricks. The courtyard is 36 meters long and five meters wide. Lasjerd caravanserai was reportedly restored for the last time by the famous merchant Haj Ali Naqi Kashani.

For many travelers to Iran, staying in or even visiting a centuries-old caravanserai can be a unique experience, because they have an opportunity to feel the past, a time travel back into a forgotten age!

Such roadside inns were originally built in various epochs along ancient caravan routes in the Muslim world to shelter people, their goods, and animals. The former Silk Roads may be the most famous example dotted by caravanserais.

Iran’s earliest caravanserais were built during the Achaemenid era (550 -330 BC). Centuries later, when Shah Abbas I assumed power form 1588 – to 1629, he ordered the construction of network caravanserais across the country.

AFM/MG