Menar Jonban

If you search everywhere in Isfahan, you can visit a marvelous historical monuments. One of the mysterious and beautiful buildings is the Menar Jonban of Isfahan.

Have you ever seen the minarets of a building shake? There are two minarets on this building that are capable of shaking. There is a spiral staircase in the minarets that you can go to the top of them. You can shake it at the top of the minaret. It's interesting to know that, while moving, other minarets, and even the building, shake. In Iran, there are other minarets that move, but these minarets move more than any else. That’s why these minarets are very famous. This building was made at the end of the Safavid period and has an architecture in the Mongolian style.

There is a tomb inside this building. The name of the tomb is Amo Abdullah. The only information that is written on this grave is Amo Abdullah's year of burial, which was in 716.

There are several reasons why these minarets are easily shaken and not damaged:

The use of lightweight construction materials in the upper part of the building, the low height of the minarets, the distance between each minaret and the building, and the several blocks of wood used in the upper and lower parts of them are important reasons. The most important point is the existence of gaps at the bottom of them, which makes the minarets move easily. These features caused the Menar Jonban to cause damage for many years. Because of the greatness of the building and its low degree of shaking, it's hard to see the tremors of all the points, and only the minarets are easily seen.

Hamid Shahin is the one who tested the movement of these minarets. He concludes that minarets must be of the same size and weight to move them. He also concluded that all the shaking minarets of Iran belong to the Iranian Islamic architecture.

They used several tricks to show viewers that all sections of the minarets and building easily shake:

1. Hang up some bells on the wooden parts of minarets.
2. They have installed a clock on the porch's wall. When the minarets move, the clock shakes as well.
3. On the tomb of Amo Abdullah, they put a bowl of water to move water while shaking the building.

• What is the best time to go?

You can visit Menar Jonban every season and enjoy the wonders of it. Menar Jonban is open every day except all public holidays from 9 AM to 4:30 PM.

• Getting there?

The Menar Jonban of Isfahan is located on the main street of the Atashkadeh at a distance of six kilometers toward Najaf Abad in the district named Karladan.