Water Reservoir – Ab Anbar Haft Badgir – Asr Abad, Yazd Province, Iran
Photo by SeyedMahdiSalehi via Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-4.0
The importance of water and its storage led to the creation of an architectural structure calling water reservoir (Ab Anbar) which is one of the tourism attraction in Iran. It is an important traditional architectural structure in Iran, a sealed and covered water tank which was built lower than ground level to store drinking water to be used during the days with low storage of water or to have cold water during summer.
One of the most ancient water reservoirs in Iran is next to Chogha Zanbil region (an ancient Elamite complex in Khuzestan province) which goes back to the 2nd century of B.C. and was built upon flourishment of Elam civilization. Building different types of qanats and dams was developed during the dynasty of Parthian and Sassanian which shows a great achievement in techniques used for building structures to store water.
Water Reservoir – Ab Anbar Rostam Giv- Yazd, Yazd Province, Iran
Photo by Meysamwiki via Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
After Islam, building water reservoirs was developed in the villages and roads where caravans passed over there, by the appearance of cities and new neighbors, the water reservoirs were built next to the mosques, schools, bazaars and governmental palaces as part of a joined architectural complex. One of the most ancient water reservoirs is “Azodi Pool” which was built in Istakhr city in Fars province on 10th A.D. by the command of Adud al-Dawla Deylami. In Iran building water reservoirs was developed after 16th & 17th A. D. centuries.
Different Types of Water Reservoir
The water reservoirs were built either privately (in rural or urban houses) or publically. The most important water reservoirs of Iran are: Seyed Esmail, Saheb Eyvan, Yuzbashi, Imamzadeh Yahya (Tehran), Gholi & Sorkheh (Semnan), Haj Kazem & Sardar (Qazvin) and Mosalla (Yazd).
Depending on the size of water reservoirs, the tanks of water reservoirs are with or without pillar and their section is square, square-rectangle, octagonal or circle. The tanks of mountainous water reservoirs were built by cutting stones with hammer and other required tools and their ceilings were covered but in other regions, tanks were made by digging the ground.
The water reservoirs were connected to the qanats or fountain by canals. Most of the water reservoirs which were located around the roads were filled by spring floods of rivers near them.
Some of the private water reservoirs and most of the public water reservoirs have pashir (a place to pick up water) which is connected to the ground by brick or stony stairs. Some of the public water reservoirs do not have pashir and there are stairs in the tank (from the ground level till its bottom) and water can be directly picked up. There are some other water reservoirs with a low capacity which do not have any stairs and their water can be picked up through a hatch which are directly connected to the tanks.
Ways to keep water cold
Some architectural ways were being applied in order to keep water healthy and cold in the water reservoirs, ways such as building tanks lower than ground level, building thick walls or building wind-catcher over the ceiling of water reservoirs. The wind-catchers play a crucial role in keeping water tanks cold, especially in deserts and southern regions of Iran. The 6-wind-catcher water reservoir in Yazd with the height of 12 meters is one of the most salient wind-catchers.
Water reservoirs have been constantly among the tourism attractions of Iran and currently have been used as dining salons, café, museum and theater hall to be preserved and displayed to others.
Water Reservoir – Ab Anbar Haji Abdol Karim- Yazd, Yazd Province, Iran
Photo by MREZA1977 via Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-4.0
Ways to keep water cold
Some architectural ways were being applied in order to keep water healthy and cold in the water reservoirs, ways such as building tanks lower than ground level, building thick walls or building wind-catcher over the ceiling of water reservoirs. The wind-catchers play a crucial role in keeping water tanks cold, especially in deserts and southern regions of Iran. The 6-wind-catcher water reservoir in Yazd with the height of 12 meters is one of the most salient wind-catchers.
Water reservoirs have been constantly among the tourism attractions of Iran and currently have been used as dining salons, café, museum and theater hall to be preserved and displayed to others.