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Niasar Cave, Fire Temple near kashan

Niasar Cave, Fire Temple

The green and beautiful resort village of Niasar is located 28 kilometers west of Kashan city. One of the roads leading to Niasar passes through Ravand (12 kilometers northwest of Kashan). Ravand is the last city on the road which connects Tehran to Kashan. At this city, an asphalted road branches from the main road towards the west and 20 kilometers away it reaches Niasar-Mashhad Ardehal juncture.

From this juncture, a road runs eight kilometers to reach Niasar village and another goes to Mashhad Ardehal (the shrine of Sultan Ali where carpet washing ceremonies are held, and the tomb of famous Iranian poet Sohrab Sepehri) and then to Delijan on Tehran-Isfahan road. By using a motor vehicle, one can get to Niasar village through Ravand juncture, says Cais-soas website.

The green village of Niasar, located at the center of a desert region, has a beautiful scene. In January and February, blossoms of almond trees add to the beauty of the village. There are two ancient monuments in this village: one is a fire temple, and the other a man-made cave. These two ancient sites attract many visitors.

Stone Structure
A building with a dome over a rock at the highest point of Niasar village can be seen from a distance. This is the penthouse that has remained intact since the time of Sassanid dynasty.
The road to Niasar is divided into two beside the orchards of Niasar. The left route leads to the village and the right was built for access to the stone mine near the fire temple. Over the years the road has become rugged and bumpy as a result of the transport of heavy mining equipment. Villagers call the upper part of Niasar ÒTalabÓ and the lower part ÒDarabÓ. The fire temple overlooks Talar.

The penthouse is 1414 meter building which contains a chamber with a dome over it. There are no walls on the four sides of the chamber. The fire temple is made of stone put together with a mortar of plaster. The stones used in the lower part of the building are normal and those used in the arches and in the upper parts are square-shaped, resemmbling big bricks.
The lower part of the building was coated with plaster in recent years. All walls surrounding the fire temple are likely to have been decorated with stucco carvings in the past.
Since the fire over the Niasar penthouse could be seen from distance, the building might have had a symbolic role. One such fire temple, is Kohneh Dezh or Khorram Dasht penthouse around the city of Kashan. Nothing has been left of the dome of the fire temple its slanting ceilings were reconstructed recently.
Magnificent premises once surrounded the fire temple of which only some small pieces of stone can now be seen on the ground. A few meters down the fire temple, a spring of cool and clear waters flows through the Talar mosque and goes on to the village. It is surprising that running waters exit beside many other fire temples. Some bear signs of worshiping Anahita, the goddess of cultivation and fertility.
There is an interesting point in the structure of the fire temple. Some of the stones used in the building have an older and different cut than others. The stones had been quarried from a cave down the temple. This shows that the Niasar cave is older than the fire temple.

Built in Darkens
The villagers call the cave as Talar cave or Surakh Reis. In one of the gardens of the upper parts of Niasar, the main openings of the cave lead to the interior of the rocks.
Niasar cave is thoroughly man-made (except for one or two natural chambers near the entrance openings). No doubt that the cave had been a Mitra temple. Its first cut possibly dates back to the Parthian era. Most Mitra temples like Niasar cave have been built in full darkness. This cave has other entrance openings, some of which are located inside a rock which separates the upper parts of Niasar from the lower neighborhoods. These openings which face the north along with the Niasar water fall make a beautiful scene visible from the village.
The signs of water erosion on the rocks bears testimony to the fact that the cave had been a scenic area in ancient times. The Niasar waterfall is another proof that the cave had been a temple belonging to the followers of Mithraism. Below the waterfall, there are two millstones and surprisingly one or two similar millstones can be seen deep inside the cave.
No doubt that the stones inside a dark and magnificent cave had not been for milling wheat but rather for turning wheels during sacrifice ceremonies according to Mithraism rites.
The cave had a big entrance opening which was destroyed in the 1980 earthquake. Parts of the cave also collapsed onto the gardens located below it in the quake. Most earthenware objects inside the cave date back to the Sassanid era and some to the Parthian period. However, some Islamic era pottery works can be seen around the openings of the cave.
On the rooftop of the cave, there are remnants of a building belonging to the Qajar period. Many stories are told by local people including one about how the stoneworker who made the cave was spellbound and that the sound of his hammer and chisel pounding the stone could be heard from inside the cave.