Gumbad ē Kavus (گنبد کاووس)

In the summer of 1974, I was travelling alone throughout Iran. I had just spent the night in Gorgan where I had visited the peasant village my thesis advisor, Dr. Dick Antoun had been studying.

The city of Gorgan and the Gorgan plain from the Elburz foothills. On the horizon and not far was the Soviet border. 1974
The village on the Gorgan plain that I visited. 1974.

Leaving Gorgan, I boarded a bus to the shrine city of Mashhad. As the bus traveled east, leaving behind the lush deciduous forests on the Caspian slopes of the Elburz mountains, the Gorgan plain gradually dried up and flattened out.

The Elburz Mountains near Gorgan. Tobacco plantation and deciduous forest. The Farsi word for forest is jangāl. 1974

The bus stopped along the route to pick up passengers. Most were Turkmen tribesmen with oriental features unlike most Iranians, and in traditional nomadic dress. As the bus approached the city of Gunbad ē Kavus, the funeral monument of the Ziyarid prince Qabus, rose in the distance. From high points on the plain, the 200 foot tower can be seen from 20 mikes away. The tower is an architectural masterpiece, a United Nations Heritage Site, and unique in many ways.

The funerary monument at Gumbad ē kavus about a century ago. Robert Byron, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At this point, it occurred to me suddenly that I was really far from home, and, on a bus full of Iranians and only speaking a little Farsi, I began to experience some cultural shock. As the tower grew ever talller, I came under its spell: here I was in Central Asia.

The spell was broken, alas, as the bus entered Gunbad ē Kavus. On the roadside, there was a huge yellow sign: The Lions Club welcomes you to Gunbad ē Kavus. Meetings every Thursday.

All in English.

Sadly, I have no photos of my own of the tower, and most of the online photos suffer from a composition problem: how to make an isolated, round tower look interesting. One Wiki Commons photo used a camel. Had I had some time there, I would have found a more distant vantage point.

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Author: Dave

Retired. Formerly school librarian, social studies teacher, and urban planner.

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