Iran the Beautiful

In distinctive ways, Iran is one of the most photogenic countries in the world--a place where dazzling architecture is set amid desolate expanses of desert or steppe; where snow-capped mountains plunge dramatically to a seacoast of steamy lushness; where nomads guide their flocks to seasonal pasture [...]
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In distinctive ways, Iran is one of the most photogenic countries in the world--a place where dazzling architecture is set amid desolate expanses of desert or steppe; where snow-capped mountains plunge dramatically to a seacoast of steamy lushness; where nomads guide their flocks to seasonal pasture lands; where tombs, temples, castles, and mosques bespeak the richness of the Persian past. High and dry for the most part, the land is sectioned by great mountain ranges, dotted with venerable villages of mud and stone as well as modern cities, and has a cultural fabric woven of many different threads--Persian, Turkic, Kurdish, Baluchi and even Mongol. For a photographer to capture such a mix of spectacular terrain and cultural complexity is a formidable challenge, one that Daniel Nadler has met brilliantly in Iran the Beautiful. This book, comprising more than 170 photographs, takes as its symbolic center the magnificent landmark of Mount Damavand, the highest peak in the Middle East, and ranges outward from there north to the Caspian Sea, east as far as Gonbad-e Kavus, west toward Zanjan, and south to Isfahan. Nadler captures the villages, villagers and country side of Iran in a timeless photo essay. Just forty-five miles northeast of Tehran, amid the Alborz mountain range from the Caspian coast, Mount Damavand lifts its volcanic cone to a height of more than 18,000 feet, standing above the land like a presiding emblem. As befits a peak perpetually sheathed in snow, its name is linked to the root word for "snowstorm," but in early times it was known as Dunbavant, meaning the mountain of many faces. The peaks of the Alborz are formidable, some of them rising to 14,000 feet, with villagesnestled in the stream-cut valleys. The south foothills give way to the plateau around Tehran, where in the early spring nomads drive huge herds of fat-tailed sheep onto the greening plain. History is palpable everywhere, sometimes tinged with tragedy. Just seven miles southeast of Tehran is the site of Ray, once a flourishing city and the birthplace of Haroun al-Rashid, a great ninth-century statesman immortalized in "The Thousand and One Nights. In 1220 the Mongols sacked Ray and killed most of its citizens. About a dozen miles away, the town of Varamin was created as a refuge for the survivors of Ray's destruction. Some of the finest brickwork in Iran can be seen in Varamin's now-abandoned mosque. Nearby are traces of one of the ancient enclosures, known as "paradises" where game was stocked for Sasanian kings. This particular paradise had forty-foot-high mud brick walls encompassing an area more than a mile square. To keep it green, underground channels known as "qanats brought water from the talus slopes of the Alborz range. The paradise is in ruins now, but an enduring power can be glimpsed through a breach in the crumbling wall--mighty Mount Damavand, reaching high into the distant sky.