Varkaneh

Varkaneh

وركانه
Varkaneh وركانه
village
	Varkaneh
	Coordinates: 34°40′37″N 48°37′09″E / 34.67694°N 48.61917°E
Country	Iran
Province	Hamadan
County	Hamadan
Bakhsh	Central
Rural District	Alvandkuh-e Sharqi
Population (2006)
• Total	848
Time zone	UTC+3:30 (IRST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+4:30 (IRDT)

Varkaneh (Template:Lang-fa, also Romanized as Varkāneh)^[1] is a village in Alvandkuh-e Sharqi Rural District, in the Central District of Hamadan County, Hamadan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 848, in 196 families.^[2]

Situated in the heart of the Zagros Mountains, east of the Arzanfud River and near the village's qanat, Varkaneh dates back to the early Safavid era and experiences cool, pleasant summers and harsh winters. Varkaneh is located 20 kilometers southeast of Hamedan at an altitude of 2,250 meters above sea level.

Varkaneh is the birthplace of Professor Tofiq Mussivand (Tofy Mussivand), the inventor of the world's first artificial heart. He passed away in December 2023.

Name

The name Vārkaneh is ultimately derived from Old Iranian *Varkānaka-, itself from Proto-Iranian *wr̥kāna-, and ultimately sharing an etymology with Varkāna, the Old Persian name of the province of Hyrcania.^[3]

Architecture

Situated on the slopes of Alvand Mountain, this village with a history of about 400 years (from the early Safavid era) boasts a unique stone architecture that has earned it a place on the list of Iran's national monuments. The "Maryam LiLi Qaragozlu Stable" is another registered national monument in this village.

The houses in this village are made of stone, and their structures are formed using rubble stone, wood, and mud mortar. Except for the roofs, the houses are entirely made of stone. For this reason, it attracts a large number of tourists annually.

The roofs of the houses are made of wooden beams and plaster, covered with "straw and mud" or tar and gunny. The houses are built facing south to make the most of the sunlight and use its heat and light.

Despite its high tourism potential due to its unique architecture and proximity to the underground city of Arzanfud, unauthorized construction with urban architecture threatens the historical fabric of the village. These constructions, which are not compatible with the village's stone architecture, have led to a decrease in tourists. The number of tourists visiting the village reached 300,000 in the years before the pandemic, but this number has decreased significantly due to the changes in the village's traditional texture.

The "Qolqol Spring" of this village, which was featured in the "Al al-Badal" television series, is also facing urban-style constructions that clash with Varkaneh's stone architecture.

Notable people

Tofy Mussivand

References

^ Varkaneh can be found at GEOnet Names Server, at this link, by opening the Advanced Search box, entering "-3088193" in the "Unique Feature Id" form, and clicking on "Search Database".
^ "Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1385 (2006)" (Excel). Statistical Center of Iran. Archived from the original on 2011-09-20.
^ Ahadian, M. Mahdi (2010). "Morphological Survey of Hamedan's Toponyms" (PDF). Linguistics Society of Iran. 6 (12): 129–148. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

* جواد همدانی. “مرگ تدریجی معماری منحصر به فرد روستای ‘ورکانه. ’” ایرنا. خبرگزاری جمهوری اسلامی |صفحه اصلی | IRNA News Agency, July 6, 2024. [1].

This Hamadan County location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Varkaneh can be found at GEOnet Names Server, at this link, by opening the Advanced Search box, entering "-3088193" in the "Unique Feature Id" form, and clicking on "Search Database".

[2] "Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1385 (2006)" (Excel). Statistical Center of Iran. Archived from the original on 2011-09-20.

[Hamadan_Toponyms-3] Ahadian, M. Mahdi (2010). "Morphological Survey of Hamedan's Toponyms" (PDF). Linguistics Society of Iran. 6 (12): 129–148. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

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