Iran tourism. Sultan Amir Ahmad historic bath, Kashan, travel Iran

They are especially interesting in Kashan, Shiraz and Kerman. Even before the advent of Islam, when Iran was Zoroastrian, cleanliness of the body was considered very important from a religious point of view. For example, during special Zoroastrian ceremonies, participants conducted special ablutions and wore white clothes - almost sterile, rare for those times. Also, it was customary for Zoroastrians to wash their faces and hands in specially designated areas before prayer. Such an ablution and a place for him were called "padyav". According to linguists, it is from the word "padyav" that the French "pasio" originates, that is, the patio - a courtyard with a fountain or a small pool in the middle.

Of course, with the adoption of Islam, ablution began to play an even more important role in the social and religious life of society. Now the place of the "padyav" was taken by the "university Khan". Muslims made two types of ablution. "Voodoo" ("university") is a simpler option, mandatory before reading namaz, that is, several times a day. In this case, wash only the face, arms to the elbow, legs to the knees. However, in certain cases, Muslims are required to perform a "gusl" - full ablution, from head to toe, by full immersion or washing all parts of the body in a certain order. Gusl is necessary after various kinds of defilements, serious illness, difficult roads, etc. Of course, such washing takes much more time than "wudu".

It is not surprising that most of the ancient Hammams in Persia that we see today are built near mosques: for example, the Vakil baths near the Vakil mosque (Shiraz) or the Ganj Ali Khan baths, near the mosque in the same-named complex in Kerman. There the believers could both perform the necessary washing and read the prayers.

On the territory of Iran is one of the oldest cities in the world - Yazd, or Yazd. Its history goes back over five thousand years. The city is considered the spiritual center of Zoroastrianism. In its vicinity are preserved Zoroastrian villages, cemeteries and temples. In addition to Yazd, the most visited and rich in sights of the city are Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz. Here you can see traditional Islamic monuments of architecture, and mausoleums of famous Persian personalities, such as Omar Khayyam (in Shiraz). There are on the territory of the country and monuments of ancient history - the ruins of the ancient cities of Persepolis and Pasagrada.

The culture of the Iranian Hammams gradually spread in the Ottoman Empire, and was found in some parts of Africa. It is closely intertwined with Iranian history and over the centuries has become an integral part of the life of Iranians. It is not surprising that many ceremonies are associated with it. So, the Governor visited the bathhouse with all possible pomp and was accompanied by a procession. The chief mullah was greeted with the same honors.

Hammam was not just a bath, but a place where people met, chatted, exchanged news. For women, he served as a beauty salon and a hairdresser at the same time. For men, barberies worked there. Doctors, for obvious reasons, preferred to carry out such a medical procedure as bloodletting ("hedge"), in the hammam.

Today, Hammams, like the old, almost gone. The appearance of the plumbing and the shower in every home inevitably had to destroy the ancient culture of the baths. The few "harmabas" available in Tehran are more of a budget option for travelers with showers and nothing more. Most of the ancient baths have already been demolished or they have become unusable.

Iran is often called Persia. This is both true and wrong at the same time. The fact is that on the shores of the Persian Gulf there is the historical region of Fars (Parsuash). It was there that the ethnic groups that formed the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, which is called Persia, lived. Later the Greeks, and after them the other European nations, transferred this name to the whole country. Until 1935, Iran was officially called Persia. The history of Iran is one of the oldest in the world and has more than one millennium. The first large state on the territory of Iran - the kingdom of the Medes was founded in the late VIII - early VII century BC.

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