As soon as one enters the historically ancient city of Paveh which dates back to three thousand years ago, the person is awestruck and amazed at how the people who live in this area, have managed to so skillfully and orderly build their homes in the shape of many long and wide stairs within the foothills of the mountain. These structures have been built in such a way, that in most instances, the roof of a house that is built in a lower altitude is actually the patio (balcony) of the house built just a few meters above it.

 

Because of the similarities in the type of city construction and housing between Paveh and the city of Massouleh in northern Iran, Paveh is also known as the City of Thousand Maasoulehs. The thousand is meant to refer to the fact that Paveh is many times larger than Massouleh.

 

Located in Kermanshah Province in western Iran, the path to this city is filled with winding and curvy mountainous (Zagros chain) roads.   The route is filled with hills, springs and fountains, forests and farmlands located in the foothills, etc., which is quite beautiful and invigorating. Due to these wonderful natural sceneries as well as various caves, waterfalls and streams, Paveh has been nicknamed the "Bakhtaran (western) Paradise".

 

The presence of water in the Paveh region is not limited to rivers, waterfalls and springs. The stone nature and penetrative waters of the area have created the largest water cave in Asia. The Ghoori Ghal'a cave is a remarkably deep cave and up to now some 3700 meters of its length has been identified and 500 meters of it is open to tourist visitors. Due to this cave being relatively unknown and obscure for both local and foreign tourists, it has not only prevented this attractive and wondrous natural marvel to produce a notable amount of revenue for the area but also has left the development of the cave incomplete.

 

Paveh has many other natural, historical and religious tourist attractions other than the Ghoori Ghal'a cave, which are listed hereunder:

 

Kavat Cave; Dashas Cave; Khaloo-Hussein Stone Cave;

Paveh Fire-Temple; Dokhan Mosque; and Soltan Es-hagh Memorial

 

From the other notable attractions of Paveh, the Boll Waterfall, Key-Khosro Fortress, Ghal'a Fortress, Manav Fortress, the Seyed Mahmoud Isfahani Memorial can be specified.

 

The language spoken by the people of Paveh is called Hourami (Gooran), which is one of the most ancient and noble languages of Iran. It is a remnant of the Pahlavi and Avestaie languages.

Agriculture in Paveh mostly consists of fruit-gardens. The reason being that there are not enough land for cultivation due to the high-altitude and mountainous terrain. Most of the fruit-gardens of the area consist of mulberry, pomegranate, figs, grapes, walnut and peanut gardens. In addition, a tree-grown fruit called Van (from the pistachio family of fruits) grows in the majority of the forest areas of Paveh. Van is not as lucrative or in demand like pistachios but Persian turpentine is produced from its tree-sap.

 

According to agricultural experts, Van trees could be grafted for pistachio gardening. It is said that engrafted pistachio trees are one of the highest-quality pistachios. Regrettably Van-pistachio grafting has not yet been implemented or tried in the Paveh area. If undertaken it can stimulate and grow the economy of the region.

 

At the present time, only some women and girls of the area extract Persian turpentine from Van tree-roots as a side-job.

(Source: Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies)