Taft

Taft lies southwest of Yazd at the foot of the Shir Kuh mountains. Qanats carry water from the uplands to gardens and fields, making the settlement a green oasis in the dry country. Unlike many Iranian towns, Taft shows no sign of having been enclosed by city walls; its dispersed gardens and agricultural quarters reflect a community rooted in cultivation. It has also long been home to Zoroastrians.

The Sufi master Shah Nematollah Vali lived in Taft in the fifteenth century and established a lodge there. His descendants added other buildings, while religious endowments helped shape the town during the Safavid period. In the eighteenth century Muhammad Taqi Khan, the ruler of Yazd, endowed water channels and agricultural land at Taft, connecting the prosperity of its gardens with the patronage of the provincial elite.