Now abandoned and alone in Iran’s Hamadan province, the 17th-century Farasfaj Caravanserai is of its many counterparts that are scattered across the country. 

Such roadside inns can still evoke a bygone era to modern visitors when brought comfort to explorers, merchants and their livestock.  

The mud-brick structure is named after the Safavid monarch, Shah Abbas the Great (r. 1588 – 1629), who ordered construction of new caravanserais in Iran.  

AFM/MG