Wind Towers or Badgirs in Yazd on the Edge of the Desert

Wind towers or badgirs still grace some of the homes in Yazd in the old part of the city. Traditionally, they would be located over a pool of water so that as the wind came down it would pass across the pool, cooling it, vaporizing some of the water and carrying the cool moisture to the room and to the house. The introduction of air conditioning has diminished the use of wind towers, I’m sorry to say.

They were also often built along with cisterns which would store water delivered to the city via qanats, an extensive system of wells and underground tunnels which brought water from the mountains to desert towns and cities. The wind towers would help to keep the water cool.

The wind tower of Bagh-e Dowlat Abad, a palace and garden built by Karim Khan Zand in 1750, is one of the tallest in town. You can see the outside of the dome, shown below, just in front of the wind tower to the left.













 

The dome located inside the house is just beautiful.