Tomb of twelve Imams ( Yazd )

About Ziaiye School (Iskander Prison)

Ziaiyeh School, which is also known as Iskandar Prison, is considered one of the historical monuments and places of interest in Yazd. Ziaieh School was registered as one of the national monuments of Iran on March 13, 19688 with the registration number 770, and due to its location in the historical neighborhood of Fahadan, you can easily visit other historical attractions of Yazd.
Ziaiye school is located on Imam Street in the old Fahadan neighborhood. To reach this amazing building, you have to go to the laundry alley, and then by entering Hamam Nou alley, you can see the lofty structure and the magnificent dome of the building.

Address: Yazd Province, Yazd City, Fahadan Quarter, Laundry Alley, Hamam Nou Alley

Introduction of Ziaiye school

Iskandar Prison or Ziaiyeh School is one of the historical attractions of Yazd city, which is very famous because of its obscure history. The entrance to this building is very short; But after entering the courtyard of the school, the grandeur of this historical building with the Islamic architecture of the Ilkhanid period will bring you admiration. One of the interesting points about the Ziaiye school is the similarity of the dome of this historical building with the dome of the tomb of the Twelve Imams of Yazd. This work was registered as one of Iran’s national works on 1968 March 13 with registration number 770, and currently, there are attractive handicraft stores operating in this place, where you can witness the production process of all kinds of them.

The Architecture of Ziaiye School

The architecture of Ziaiye school has a unique feature; Because, at the same time, it shows the beauty of the art of that era. In the construction of this huge historical building, no type of tile decoration has been used. It seems that only raw clay was used to build the school building, which may be the reason for its endurance and durability until the modern century.
Ziaiyeh school is built with Azeri architecture; A style attributed to Azerbaijan, which became popular in Iranian architecture after Islam and during the rule of the Ilkhanate, and is also known as the Mongol or Iranian-Mongol style.
The construction of this building has been done in two stages:
In the first stage, its old dome was built for a tomb at the same time as the Mongols attacked, and there was no school.
In the second stage, about 200 years later, in the early 8th century AH, the grandson of the first builder of the dome built a school next to it, which then opened a door from the school to the dome.

Different departments of Ziaiye school

the dome : The 18-meter-high dome of the Ziaiye school is made of raw clay, and its plasterwork, decorated with gold and azure watercolor paintings, has created an extraordinary beauty for this building. Unfortunately, after eight centuries of this ancient building, there is only a part of this watercolor painting on white plaster. The space under the dome is called Gonbadkhaneh, which has suffered a lot of damage and no traces of its inscriptions have been left. There is a small museum in this place where inscriptions and tombstones are kept.
Yard : Around the courtyard or courtyard, there are porticoes that are larger on the west side and there is a plaster altar next to them. In the courtyard, in addition to the small porches in front of the rooms, there are also four taller porches that make the building four porches.
Payab and well : In addition to the porticoes, another element that can be seen in the courtyard is a footbridge with 38 steps, 2.8 meters deep from the ground level, which allows access to the water of the Allah Abad aqueduct. There is also a water well with a diameter of two meters in the middle of the yard, which leads to a cellar with a depth of one meter. On the floor of the cellar, an old basin stands out, which is considered as one of the remains of the original building. Apparently, the cellar and pond were used for water supply and use by the residents of the school.
windy room : In a corner of the yard, there is a room known as the windbreak room, where you can enter, stand right under the windbreak and enjoy the coolness of the breeze even in summer.

Tips for Visiting Ziaiye School

Visiting hours of Ziaiye school are from 8:00 to 19:45.
It is possible to visit this historical monument every day, except 28 Safar, Tasu’a and Ashura, the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS), the
martyrdom of Imam Jafar Sadiq (AS) and the death of Imam Khomeini (RA).
The ticket price for Iranian tourists in 1400 is equal to 4000 Tomans.
A large number of traditional and modern hotels and restaurants can be found near the Ziaiye School of Yazd, which provide you with the
opportunity of a pleasant stay and a delicious meal in the historical context of Yazd.
Among the historical places near this huge building, we can mention the Tomb of Twelve Imams, Lariha House, Heydarzadeh Museum of Coins and Anthropology.