Miandasht, a village with no inhabitants, was once full of the hustle and bustle of travelers who went from one place to another with their caravans and move. For their comfort, three caravanserais were built over several centuries, now known as “Miandasht Miami Caravanserais,” and are a memory of the Historical past of that region and its ancient expanse.
Miandasht caravanserai was built in the village with the same name, a little more than forty kilometers away from the east of Mayamay City. Mayamay, in Semnan province, is full of historical caravanserai structures. Their number reaches ten caravanserais; Therefore, Mayamay is sometimes called the city of caravanserais. Miandasht triple caravanserai, next to Alhaq, Abbasabad, Sadrabad, Sangi Sharifabad and few other such structures for a series of multiple usage buildings in Mayamay city and display their historic value, plus their advanced architecture.
Miandasht caravanserais are built on a vast land and are rare in their kind. They were founded in the Safavid period and continued until the Qajar reign. Therefore, those structures exhibit two types of Safavid and Qajar architecture. From this point of view, they are worth a closer observation. They were built on a road where many caravans with various goods would travel from far and near, and when reaching these caravanserais would take some rest.
Miandasht village was prosperous in the previous century, and travelers and merchants knew the historical road, the town, and its caravanserai and considered it a relaxing place. The reason for Miandasht’s fame was not only its caravanserais but also the hot springs, the courier office, reservoirs and later on the telegraph office. All these facilities made it a suitable place for caravans and merchants to take a stop. One of the caravanserais in Miandasht was built during the reign of Shah Abbas I Safavid and has an area of 2500 square meters. The other two caravanserais were built in the Qajar period. They have been built in the east/west direction, next to each other, each having four porches.
The stone inscriptions that can be seen on the doors of caravanserais show the date of their construction and renovations in various historical periods. Let us add here that the two Qajar caravanserai were built by the order of Ilkhani Shahsavan, who was called Shahab al-Molk. At the same time, he had a master architect by the name of Ali Taqi Kashani, repair and renovate the Safavid caravanserais. The history of this reconstruction is engraved in a beautiful and eye-catching script on the headstone of the caravanserai. With the expansion of Mayamay, these three caravanserais have more or less become intercity structures and have lost their previous and historical use. But they have given a historic sight to the city of Mayamay and, along with other long-standing designs of the city, are a reminder of the history of Mayamay.
Features of Miandasht caravanserais
Safavi Miandasht Caravanserai has a brick facade. To enter it, you have to pass through a beautiful vestibule. In the same passage, you will notice an inscription with the name of the founder and builder of the caravanserai. 15 rooms can be seen in this caravanserai that can accommodate several passengers. The rooms have been prepared in a modern way for tourists.
The two forts and the courier office that can be seen next to the Safavid caravanserai in Miandasht were meant for guarding the caravansary and the goods inside it. In the distant past, sometimes the roads became unsafe, and looters attacked the defenseless caravanserai and looted the belongings of the merchants and travelers. Therefore, they either built the caravanserai in the form of a fort so that soldiers could guard it, or they prepared a place next to the caravanserai for observation and residence of the soldiers.
The addition of two more caravansaries to the Safavid caravanserai in the Qajar period was because the number of travelers had increased, and the single caravanserai in the village could not accommodate all of them, so by building two more caravanserai they could receive more passengers. All three caravanserais have rooms, porches, smaller porches, stables for keeping the animals and a not-so-big yard; each have seven towers.
The interesting point is that the middle caravanserai was meant to have connection and communicate with the other two caravanserai. It has two entrances that open to the caravanserai on each side, thus playing as a connecting caravanserai. The caravanserais of Miandasht Mayamay have their own historical and unique values and represent a part of its history and anthropology. Taking care of them is to respect and remember the predecessors’ efforts to stabilize life and the role of the structural art of Iran.
