The stepped pools
A long line of fountains.
Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mohammad Sadegh Ebrahimi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0
Shazdeh Garden, the Prince's Garden, is a Qajar-era Persian garden near the town of Mahan in Kerman Province, about 6 km from it. It covers 5.5 hectares in a rectangle with a wall around it. UNESCO listed it in June 2011 along with other Persian gardens. Its green scene amid barren land is the finest thing about it. Most sources say it began about 1850 for Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar. Abdolhamid Mirza Naser al-Dowleh, governor of Kerman, then expanded it around 1870. Sources say work stopped after his death in the early 1890s, so it was never quite finished, and the dates differ somewhat between sources. You enter by a gate at the lower end, and a long line of stepped pools and fountains climbs before you, edged by tall trees. At the upper end stands a two-storey residential building. The water comes from a traditional qanat system. Seen from above, the garden is a green line in the desert, and that is its magic. It is about 35 km in a straight line from Kerman, and you can see it in half a day. The fountains may not run all the time, so ask about them. Spring is the finest season, with mild weather. The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to Iran and warns that British nationals risk detention, so check official guidance before making any plans. We could not confirm the current state of this site.
A long line of fountains.
Two storeys at the top.
A striking contrast.
Near Mahan, Kerman Province, Iran
They may not run all the time, so ask at the entrance.
A traditional qanat system, part of the idea of the Persian garden.