Mehr Caravanserai: A Qajar-Era Roadside Inn in Iran
Site at a Glance
- Country
- Iran
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Qajar
- Site type
- Economic
- Remains
- Caravanserai
History
Mehr Caravanserai is a Qajar-era caravanserai, a roadside complex offering lodging and services to travelers and trading caravans, in Mehr village, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran. The Qajar dynasty ruled Iran from 1789 to 1925. The building’s recorded architectural styles are Safavid, associated with the dynasty that ruled Iran from 1501 to 1736, and Qajar. Its listed materials include clay tile and plaster.
The complex has a rectangular plan and stands 993 metres above sea level. Its recorded area is 6,480 square metres. The UNESCO listing gives a site area of 0.57 hectares and a buffer zone of 67.05 hectares.
Mehr Caravanserai became an Iranian national heritage site in 1984, under registration number 1660. In 2023, at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, it was inscribed as part of The Persian Caravanserai, a serial property encompassing 54 historic caravanserais in 24 Iranian provinces. The inscription recognized the property under cultural criterion ii, for an important interchange of human values, and criterion iii, for exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or civilization.
