September 30, 2004
>>> First
More (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
View of Zir-e taq. The edge of the vaulted roof that covers
the kucheh can be seen at the top of the photograph. Shiraz.
At the time of Reza Shah a new street called Khiaban-e Now (New
Street) was driven through Shiraz’s mahalleh, dividing
the Jewish residential area into two separate sections. One continued
to be called mahalleh, and the other was referred to as Zir-e
taq (under the dom), so called because many of its alleys (kucheh),
often no wider than a meter, were covered with a vaulted roof
(see fig. 1462). In colloquial parlance, these narrow side streets
were referred to as Ashti-konun (see fig. 1461)-- a term
that vaguely translates into “forgive-and-forget”-- because
the passage was so tight that if two estranged friends encountered
each other in them they could not pass by each other without
their bodies touching and would hence be “forced” to
resolve the issue that stood between them. (Courtesy of CIJOH.
Photograph by Prof. Laurence Loeb.)
From Esther's
Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews.
[See "The
culture heroes"]
Contact author Houman
Sarshar
Email
interesting old photos of ordinary people, places, political leaders,
activists...
