Religious Spaces in the Layout and Fabric of Zoroastrian Cities Case Study: Yazd

The layout and fabric of a city reflect the influence of beliefs and cultures of their inhabitants. Amongst Iranian ancient cities, the historical city of Yazd, thanks to its intact and less-affected old fabric, is an excellent arena for investigating such impact. According to the historical sources, Zoroastrians lived in nine (out of seventy seven) districts of Yazd in the Qajar era. Since Zoroastrians continue to live in these urban spaces to date, it has been tried in the present research to investigate the extent of influence of Zoroastrian’s religion on the formation of such spaces.This research, therefore, investigates the architectural elements with religious function in one of the main Zoroastrian districts in Yazd City, and the religious commandments that have influenced the formation of its space. To this end, a relatively well-preserved area i.e. the Dasturān district, is selected and its religious buildings were identified. The results of fieldworks combined with the findings of historical and religious texts, confirm that the religious spaces had a pivotal role in the formation of the fabric of Zoroastrian city.