Persian gardens

All Persian gardens, from the very old to the high classical were developed in opposition to the harsh and arid landscape of the Iranian Plateau. Not like past European gardens, which seem carved or re-ordered from within their existing landscape, Persian gardens appeared as impossibilities. Their ethereal and weak character emphasized their intrinsic contrast to the hostile environment.

The heart of Persia, modern day Iran, is high and dry. A series of basins and plateaus are divided by the two main mountain ranges, the Albourz and the Zagros. Since ancient times, lush gardens have full-grown in the region due to an ingenious engineering system of underground aqueducts called qanats. Originating in northeastern Iran around 800bc, qanats bring the water from the snow melt to the plains for irrigation and human use.