With its mud brick houses, wind towers and underground workshops, Yazd is a typical desert town with a characteristic architecture that is adapted to the hot climate. It is located in an oasis at 1200 m above sea level on the Iranian high plateau between the two deserts Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut and has around 656,500 inhabitants (2016).

History

4th Century BC
Little is known about its foundation. According to some legends, Alexander the Great is said to have left high-ranking Achaemenid prisoners here in the seclusion of the desert.

 5th century AD
Whether the towns name derives from the Sassanid ruler Yazdgerd I (399-420) is not clear. But at the time, Yazd was already a centre for Zoroastrianism.

13th century
Because of its location on the important caravan routes to India and China, trade flourished and the town became rich. When Marco Polo stayed here in 1272, he was very impressed by the rich beauty oft he town and the lively trading.

14th - 18th centuries
Yazd survived the Mongol invasion in the 14th century largely unscathed, but in the 18th century the Afghans destroyed part of the town.

20th century
Yazd is still a centre for brocade and silk fabrics today.

UNESCO World Heritage
The old town with its mud brick houses has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017.