Visit Vakil Bath of Shiraz While Traveling in Iran

January, 18, 2017 - 16:29
Tourism news

TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Vakil Bath is an old public bath in Shiraz, south of Iran. It was a part of the royal district constructed during Karim Khan Zand's reign, which includes Arg of Karim Khan,Vakil Bazaar and Vakil Mosque.

The monument is inscribed with the number 917 on the list of national works of Iran.

This bath was made by Karim Khan Zand in Zandieh period and it is now considered as the most progressive architectural example of its period. Today the bath is a sort of anthropological museum with many wax statues indicating varios sides of social life in 18th century in Iran.

Once, Shirazis would have relaxed by its fountain after taking a bath in the handsome heat room, which has a vaulted ceiling, pillars and a small (empty) pool. Local artisans now work in a chamber between the two and offer their wares for sale.

For quite a ling time it served as one of the most popular traditional restaurants in Iran, but it was closed because the kitchen was damaging this classic old building. In early 2008 it reopened as a modest carpet museum.

Some beautiful monuments remained from Karim Khan Zand who named himself Vakiloroaya in Shiraz . In addition to governmental buildings there are some constructions and palaces used to be ceremonies and residence . Anobanini mentioned some mosques , bazaar and caravansi known as Vakil ; one of them is Hamam-e-Vakil (Vakil Bath) which is 11,000 sq. m. , the square footage is 11,000 meters , the length is 120 m. and the width is 80 m. ; it was built by order of Karim Khan Zand on Taleghani st.in Darb Shazdeh district in 1187 (Lunar) A.H.

The bath had been built according to the most advanced principles of architecture of the ; for example , the entrance is small and has a modte steep hallway led to a vestibule lower than the level . The cloakroom entrance is angular to prevent cold to enter and heat to exit . The hot chamber is paved with a stone under which is a narrow corridor through which heat weather and steam passed to heat the bath floor sooner . In the south of the bath there is the reservoir with two great boilers to heat the water . Also there is a marble pool in the middle of each alcove . Some beautiful designs under the dome show some religious , love , traditional and fictional tales .