Kandovan, the historic and beautiful village is located in the North-West of Iran, East Azarbayejan province, 52 Km away in South of Tabriz, 20 Km away from South-West of Osko, in the western foot of the mount Sahand. The village coordinate is E35,31 & N37,48 and 2400 m above the sea level. The special specification of the village which has made it famous worldwide is the rocky construction of the village.
Kandovan village consists of a complex with lots of conical-shaped rocks that are curved inside by the villagers and formed 117 homes for living. The rocky construction indicates the fight and challenge of the humans against the nature and getting the natural rocks under control. Rocks are formed by a kind of volcano stones, called “Toof”. Inside the rocks is called “Karan”, the bottom is wider than the top. Rocky homes have almost two floors but in some cases there are even three or four too.
Most of the first floors were used as sheep-stable and the villagers live on the 2nd floors and 3rd floors and the 4th floors are almost used as a storage room. The bread-cooking traditional oven is almost in the main room. There are some public rocky constructions in Kandovan too. The old public bath and the old mosque are the samples. The vastest Karan is the mosque that is seperated into two parts for men and women by a wooden fence.
Kandovan is located in the countryside of the Sahand Mountains, in Soltan-Daqi plain, which its fresh-green grasslands attract lots of nomads. The villagers are Muslim-Shiite and they talk in Azari. The economy of Kandovan is based on agriculture, husbandry and the tourism.
The attractive site “Hilevar” is also next to the village that used to be used as the villagers’ residence. It is estimated by anthropologists that the village is about 6000 years old which goes back to Mehr-Parasti era. Professor David Roll, the famous British archeologist, during his trip through Iran and discovery of the first post path of the world, has used the antiquity of Kandovan to prove the localization of the human and forming the human societies.
Kandovan mineral water is nationally famous and its medical effects, especially for the kidney and related problems. The Arshad-Chaman countryside is a nice resort of Sahand Mountain, located at the end of Kandovan valley on the top of Kandovan River.
Pastoral and traditional wedding ceremonies are special customs of the village. The villagers use the popular local clothes used in Azarbayejan villages. The souvenirs are herbs and medical plants, honey, nuts, almond and handicrafts such as carpet, Gelim, Jajim, and Verni, that are sujested to the tourists in the village market.
Visiting this wonderful village will be a memorable experience. Kandovan village has accommodation and restaurant services such as Laleh rocky hotel of Kandovan.
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