Iran - Andrew Burke [164]
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THE LORS OF LORESTAN
Call them Lurish, Lori or Lor, these proud people (around 2% of Iran’s population) are best known to Westerners for the magnificent bronze-crafts of their hazily documented Kassite forebears. Around 1800 BC, these polytheistic horse-breeding warriors were pushing forward the boundaries of metallurgical technology, casting exquisite bronzes whose fine decoration belies their often mundane purposes. The Lurish golden age was destroyed by centuries of medieval wars that wiped out virtually all settled agriculture. Lorestan lapsed into lawless nomadic ‘backwardness’ such that the Lors, like many Kurds, remained predominantly semi-independent nomads until well into the 20th century. In 1931 the valiant Freya Stark considered Lorestan to be the ‘wastes of civilisation’ as she risked brigands, bandits and police ire seeking ancient gravesites from which to procure Lurish bronzes. Today admiring such bronzes is much easier thanks to Khorramabad’s Falak-ol-Aflak or Tehran’s National Museum of Iran and Reza Abbasi Museum.
The Lori language is a dialect based on Old Persian with additions from Arabic and modern Farsi. A handy greeting is damaqechaqı (are you well?); ‘delicious’ is tomdara.
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Tuyserkan (Towiserkan)
0852 / pop 39,000
This ancient city has a covered bazaar and a 17th-century madraseh (totally rebuilt in 1991); but the main tourist attraction is Gonbad-e-Hayaquq-Nabi. Try saying that with your mouth full of Tuyserkan’s famous walnuts. It’s an eight-sided brick tower with clamshell-grooved conical roof sitting in a garden on the west edge of town, 500m off Shahid Ashraf Esfahani Blvd. The tower is considered to be the tomb of Jewish prophet Habakkuk, whose book within the Bible’s Old Testament is mostly a vitriolic rant against the Chaldeans. Possibly a guardian of the temple of Solomon, Habakkuk was probably amongst the Jews who had been exiled to Babylon. Maybe he ‘retired’ to the Hamadan area after Darius released them in 538 BC.
In the hills above town (passing close to a golden domed mosque en route), is Mir Razi Mausoleum ( 4228420; admission free) a 1975 memorial to Safavid sufi poet Mir Razi-ed-Din-e-Artisani (died 1627). The architecture is along the lumpsome lines of Hamadan’s Baber Taher tower but the site is peaceful and attractive.
Becoming one of the first foreigners ever to stay at the unsuspecting Mosaferkhaneh Tadayon ( 422 0006; Bahonar St; s IR41,500, d & tr IR80,000, tw with/without bathroom IR70,000/60,000) is a great way to immerse yourself in rural Iranian life. Rooms aren’t fancy but they’re better value than anything in Hamadan and just getting in is quite an adventure. The sign (in Farsi) leads into a shopping passage halfway between the bazaar and Farshid Sq. There’s no reception: just ask someone to find the elderly gentleman who runs the place.
Minibuses (IR6500) and savaris (IR20,000) to Hamadan loop right around via Joukar, departing from a point some 3km east of the bazaar in Tuyserkan’s Sarabi suburb. For the very scenic mountain road via Oshtoran and Ganjnameh you will need to charter a taxi (during summer-only).
If you’re heading for Kermanshah, a direct bus service departs at 8am from Basij Sq. Alternatively you could change in Kangavar (45km) to which minibuses (IR2700) and savaris (IR7000) depart from further up Ashrafi Blvd.
Around Tuyserkan
Oshtoran
On a grassy knoll above the low-rise, mountain-backed village of Oshtoran are the extensive ruins of Qal’eh Hamza Khan. This mud-walled fortress is comparatively intact with all four corner-towers well-preserved and much of the interior looking as though it had been lived in till relatively recently. The 20km road from Tuyserkan passes through walnut groves then crosses