Bolaghi Gorge

Bolaghi Gorge lies southwest of the Pasargadae plain, north of the road from Jisqan to Qasr al-Dasht, in the green Komin plain. The gorge is about 12 kilometres long and between 200 and 500 metres wide. However, because of the Polvar River (also called the Sivand) and the dense forest trees, crossing the gorge from side to side is difficult, and you can only pass along a narrow path on the mountainside. At the start of the gorge, a path about 200 metres long and 1.5 metres wide has been carved into the mountain, and its traces suggest that it dates back to very ancient times. Over time, as traffic increased, the rock walls along the path were cut back from above, so that in some places the path is as much as 10 metres wide.

In the middle of the gorge you can see the piers of an old bridge, a sign of the heavy traffic here in the past. After passing places known as Pouzeh Sang-bor, Tirandaz and Pouzeh Sorkh, the route through the gorge leads to a plain called Bolaghi Plain. The gorge runs parallel to Saadatabad Gorge but, unlike it, is green, pleasant in climate and full of trees. Without doubt, during the Achaemenid Empire and the centuries after it, this route was an important link between Persepolis, Naqsh-e Rustam, Estakhr and Pasargadae, and from there it continued toward Hegmataneh (Ecbatana).

Bolaghi Gorge is one of the places that lay along the Royal Road, the first known international road in the world. This caravan road connected the great Achaemenid cities, and walking through the gorge is part of a unique historical and natural experience that carries visitors back into the depths of history.