The great courtyard
A pool and decorated facade.
Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0
Tabatabaei House is a historic house museum in the city of Kashan, built about 1880 in the Qajar era for the wealthy Tabatabaei family. It is among the leading historic houses of Kashan and Iran, along with the Ameri and Borujerdi houses. It offers a rare picture of luxurious life in a trading city, with white walls carved in plaster like lace. It was designed by Ustad Ali Maryam, who later designed the nearby Borujerdi House, and it has been restored. It covers nearly 5,000 square metres, with 40 rooms, four courtyards, four basements, three windcatchers and gardens. It follows the Iranian tradition of two parts, the biruni, the public wing for guests, and the andaruni, the private family wing. You enter by a narrow low passage, and then the great courtyard surprises you with its long pool and decorated facade. In the reception hall coloured glass windows fill the floor with bright colours. In the other wing a smaller courtyard sits below ground level to keep cool. The plasterwork deserves a close look on every wall. It is about 3 km in a straight line from central Kashan and about 7 km from Fin Garden, and you can walk from it to the other houses nearby. The best light for the glass comes in the morning. 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 pool and decorated facade.
Colour on the floor.
Lace-like decoration.
Old town, Kashan, Iran
The biruni is the public guest wing, and the andaruni is the private family wing.
Yes, the Borujerdi and Ameri houses are close, and you can combine them on foot.