Abyaneh | Kamran Jebreili

Abyaneh, Ancient Village (1981-1983)

For context, Abyaneh is a jewel.

A unique village with a rich history in architecture and culture. The beautiful narrow alleys with reddish clay walls and houses with wooden lattice window frames invite you to experience a unique harmony, an impeccable adaptation between man and his surroundings. This magical image becomes complete when a few women, dressed in floral-patterned outfits and carrying bundles of grass, enter the scene.

In the past, Abyaneh was one of the centers for handicrafts. However, like many other villages in Iran, the new generations preferred to leave and start a new life in big cities and abroad. Despite this, most of them return for traditional religious and feast ceremonies, enjoying the company of relatives and friends, transforming the atmosphere of the village altogether.

UNESCO World Heritage describes Abyaneh as one of the Iranian historical villages that contains works from the Sassanid period to the present time. It boasts several remarkable features, such as the unique temple of "Herpak," a Masjid e Jaame, Chief Mosque with a distinctive mihrab from the Seljukian period, and houses that harmonize with the climate and mountainous terrain. In daily conversations, one can hear Sassanid Pahlavic words, and the villagers' clothing is rooted in earlier times.

An old woman and man pass each other while walking through one of the narrow allies surrounded with high walls.

Abyaneh families, mostly new generation females with white colourful scarfs who are not living in the village anymore, get together as they take part at the Ashura religious ceremony.

A very old woman with bent back, enjoys the sun light as the others passing through a narrow ally with plum trays on the roofs left to be dried.

An old woman stands at her doorway decorated with architectural patterns.

A bird sits on an old wooden window.

People perform religious ritual at the Jame mosque during Ashura ceremony.

A man poses in front an old house. Abyaneh residents are mostly old people and new generations prefer to migrate to main cities for education and work.

A woman in traditional colourful scarf covers herself in front of the camera as the other outsiders in black chador, walking in the ally.

Women return from the farm as they pass by Kids playing in the ally.

People carry a Nakhl with someone on top of it during Ashra religious ceremony. Nakhl Gardani is a Shia religious ritual carried out on the day of Ashura for commemorating the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Moḥammad and third Shia Imam. Nakhl is a wooden structure used as a symbolic representation of the Imam’s coffin and Nakhl Gardani is the act of carrying the Nakhl from one place to another, resembling an Imam’s funeral.

A man carries a dried branch of a tree during a snow day in front of the Abyaneh village.

People pull up a Nakhl with someone on top, during Ashra religious ceremony.

A woman makes traditional bread at home.

The shadow of the photographer casts on the main pathway in front of the fire temple on the main pathway.