Kurdistan
کردستانThe mountains of Iranian Kurdistan around Sanandaj: a land of music, weaving and terraced villages.
Kurdistan province covers part of the wider Kurdish homeland in the Zagros. Its capital, Sanandaj, was founded in the seventeenth century as the seat of the Ardalan rulers.
Kurdish is an Iranian language, a cousin of Persian, and Kurdish music, above all the daf frame drum and the tanbur, is central to the region's life. In the Uraman valley, on the border with Kermanshah, stepped villages climb the mountainsides.
Cities and towns
Sanandajسنندج
The seat of the Ardalan rulers
Saqqezسقز
A market town of the north
Marivanمریوان
A town on Lake Zarivar
Landmarksبناها و نشانهها
Uraman
هورامانStepped villages of the Hawrami Kurds, a UNESCO cultural landscape
Kurdistan through time
Iranian historyThe Pahlavi century and afterدوران پهلوی و پس از آن
Two Pahlavi shahs built railways, universities and a centralised state, while poets, novelists and film-makers created a new Persian culture. The era ended with the revolution of 1979.
- Hawraman inscribed by UNESCO
Stories from hereداستانها
How a Persian rug is made
Three sets of threads and two kinds of knot: what a pile carpet is made of, and what its back reveals that its front conceals.
Kilim, soumak and jajim
Not every Persian rug has a pile. The flatweaves of villages and tents are lighter, quicker and often bolder.