Photos from my time in Iran, 2017

Lately I’ve been reading Ron Chernow’s lively and well-written biography of Mark Twain, one of my personal heroes.

最近，我一直在读罗恩·切尔诺（Ron Chernow）为我个人的偶像之一马克·吐温（Mark Twain）撰写的生动而文笔优美的传记。

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts,” Twain wrote in 1869.

吐温在 1869 年写道：“旅行对于偏见、偏执和狭隘来说是致命的，我们许多人都非常需要旅行。”

“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

“对人对事的宽广、健康、仁慈的看法不可能通过一辈子在地球的一个小角落里过日子而获得。”

With that spirit in mind, and of course with current events in mind as well, I thought I’d share some photographs I took during my visit to Iran in September of 2017.

秉承这种精神，当然也考虑到时事，我想分享一些我在 2017 年 9 月访问伊朗期间拍摄的照片。

I was there to attend the wedding of my sister-in-law.

我去那里参加我嫂子的婚礼。

Afterwards, we took the opportunity to travel with my wife’s family in a big loop down from Tehran to the historical capital of Isfahan, then southeast to Shiraz (Iran’s wine country), and then back up to Tehran via the Great Salt Desert and the amazingly well-preserved Silk Road city of Yazd.

随后，我们趁机与妻子的家人一起绕了一大圈，从德黑兰到历史首都伊斯法罕，然后向东南到达设拉子（伊朗的酒乡），然后经大盐沙漠和保存完好的丝绸之路城市亚兹德返回德黑兰。

I am not one of those historians who thinks that learning the history of the world automatically makes you a better person.

我不是那些认为学习世界历史会自动让你成为一个更好的人的历史学家。

But I do agree with Twain that there is something fundamentally good not just about traveling but about exposing yourself to the cultural productions of societies outside your childhood experience — via words, via speech, and via images.

但我确实同意吐温的观点，即从根本上来说，旅行不仅有好处，而且让自己接触童年经历之外的社会文化产物——通过文字、演讲和图像。

I return to these photos with feelings of sadness at the thought that some of these places are or may soon be destroyed by a hideously counter-productive bombing campaign which further punishes a proud people already brutalized by the Iranian regime.

当我回到这些照片时，我感到悲伤，因为想到其中一些地方已经或可能很快被可怕的适得其反的轰炸行动所摧毁，这进一步惩罚了已经被伊朗政权残酷对待的骄傲的人民。

But also with hopefulness, as I am reminded of the tiny details like the American flag displayed alongside the other flags of the world in a Yazd hotel, or the fact that Orwell’s 1984 was one of most popular books being sold on Tehran’s street corners.

但也充满希望，因为我想起了一些微小的细节，比如亚兹德酒店里美国国旗与世界其他国旗并列展示，或者奥威尔的《1984》是德黑兰街角最畅销的书籍之一。

I think about the warmth of the complete strangers and extended family I met in Iran and the fundamental goodness of humans, which, despite all the darkness in history, is a fact of life that I consider immutable.

我想起了我在伊朗遇到的陌生人和大家庭的温暖，以及人类基本的善良，尽管历史上充满了黑暗，但这是我认为不可改变的生活事实。

Note: I am releasing these photos into the public domain under a non-commercial license.

注意：我将根据非商业许可将这些照片发布到公共领域。

Feel free to use them in any non-commercial use cases, such as Wikipedia .

请随意在任何非商业用例中使用它们，例如维基百科。

Res Obscura is a reader-supported publication.

Res Obscura 是一本由读者支持的出版物。

To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

要接收新帖子并支持我的工作，请考虑成为免费或付费订阅者。

The view from my mother-in-law’s apartment in northwest Tehran, with Milad Tower, a focal point of the city’s urban core, visible in the distance.

从我岳母位于德黑兰西北部的公寓看到的景色，米拉德塔是城市核心的焦点，在远处清晰可见。

Tehran’s architecture reminded me a bit of Athens or Istanbul with an interesting mix of traditional and modern forms.

德黑兰的建筑让我想起了雅典或伊斯坦布尔，传统与现代形式的有趣结合。

What surprised me was how leafy and pleasant the streets were.

令我惊讶的是街道绿树成荫，令人愉快。

Driving in Tehran is an experience.

在德黑兰开车是一种体验。

With its high rises and urban sprawl bisected by freeways, that aspect of the city reminded me a bit of Los Angeles or São Paulo.

这座城市的高楼林立和被高速公路一分为二的城市扩张，让我想起了洛杉矶或圣保罗。

I was deeply charmed by Tehran’s bakeries, which are abundant, much beloved by the populace, and home to lots of original creations like this poodle cake.

德黑兰的面包店让我深深着迷，那里的面包店数量众多，深受民众喜爱，并且有很多像贵宾犬蛋糕这样的原创作品。

The streets around the University of Tehran were fascinating to walk through because nearly every corner had vendors selling books, including banned ones.

德黑兰大学周围的街道令人着迷，因为几乎每个角落都有摊贩出售书籍，包括违禁书籍。

I noticed a lot of works of the great Russian novelists (especially Doestoevsky) as well as a lot of 20th century British and American fiction in translation — think Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Orwell.

我注意到许多伟大的俄罗斯小说家（尤其是多斯托耶夫斯基）的作品以及许多 20 世纪英美小说的译本——比如海明威、菲茨杰拉德和奥威尔。

Here we see The Sound and the Fury , Memoirs of a Geisha , and 1984 .

在这里我们看到了《喧哗与骚动》、《艺伎回忆录》和《1984》。

The latter was probably the most frequently-sold book that I spotted in the entire neighborhood.

后者可能是我在整个社区发现的最常销售的书。

The title at top is a Farsi translation of a book by the Egyptian feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi about female genital mutilation and the oppression of women called The Hidden Face of Eve .

顶部的标题是埃及女权主义作家 Nawal El Saadawi 所著《夏娃隐藏的面孔》一书的波斯语翻译，该书讲述了女性生殖器残割和对妇女的压迫。

The samizdat booksellers around the University of Tehran also sold posters and magnets, including more than a few which I remembered from dorm room walls when I was a student.

德黑兰大学周围的地下书店也出售海报和磁铁，其中有不少是我学生时代在宿舍墙上记得的。

The following day, I caught some Iranian state TV with my mother-in-law and realized that we were in fact watching a rather well-done recreation of Breaking Bad .

第二天，我和岳母一起观看了伊朗国家电视台的节目，并意识到我们实际上正在观看一部相当精彩的《绝命毒师》娱乐节目。

It was the famous “Fly” episode .

这就是著名的“飞翔”情节。

Here’s the Iranian version of Walter White, gazing scornfully at the Iranian version of Jesse as they struggle to make sufficiently pure crystal meth:

这是伊朗版的沃尔特·怀特，轻蔑地凝视着伊朗版的杰西，因为他们正在努力制造足够纯净的冰毒：

Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art , built under the Shah just two years before the 1979 Revolution, is famous for having one of the world’s best collections of 20th century modernism, though it’s rarely displayed.

德黑兰当代艺术博物馆建于 1979 年革命前两年，由国王领导，以拥有世界上最好的 20 世纪现代主义藏品之一而闻名，尽管它很少展出。

There was however a Giacometti sculpture casually striding by outside the cafe.

然而，咖啡馆外却有一座贾科梅蒂的雕塑悠闲地走过。

The building itself is a wonderful example of 1970s Brutalism adapted to traditional Iranian motifs like high banks of windows that evoke Windcatcher towers .

该建筑本身就是 20 世纪 70 年代粗野主义的完美典范，它适应了传统的伊朗主题，例如高高的窗户让人想起捕风塔。

When I was there, the exhibited art included this system of mirrors that cast geometric patterns of light.

当我在那里时，展出的艺术品包括这个投射几何图案光的镜子系统。

It is a really extraordinary place.

这真是一个非凡的地方。

Tehran’s vernacular residential architecture is quite interesting.

德黑兰的乡土住宅建筑相当有趣。

Here is a set of outdoor staircases in a fairly typical mid-rise building.

这是一栋相当典型的中层建筑中的一组室外楼梯。

The Shah’s palace in Tehran was one of the more moody and haunted-feeling places I’ve been.

德黑兰国王的宫殿是我去过的最喜怒无常、闹鬼的地方之一。

It preserves, seemingly more or less intact, the artifacts of the Iranian royal family on the eve of the 1979 Revolution, complete with faded 1970s-era recliners , fluorescent lighting, and other accoutrements of an aging couple.

它保存了 1979 年革命前夕伊朗王室的文物，看起来或多或少完好无损，包括褪色的 1970 年代躺椅、荧光灯和一对老年夫妇的其他装备。

The grander, more public-facing halls and ballrooms feature paintings from Iran’s national epic, Shahnahmeh.

更宏伟、更面向公众的大厅和宴会厅挂有伊朗民族史诗《Shahnahmeh》中的画作。

Traveling south from Tehran for about five hours, you reach Isfahan, which was the capital of the Persian empire under the Safavids and a major destination on the western edge of the Silk Road.

从德黑兰向南行驶约五个小时，即可到达伊斯法罕，这里是萨非王朝时期波斯帝国的首都，也是丝绸之路西缘的一个主要目的地。

Indeed, to a striking degree, it still feels like a city on the Silk Road, only now with lots of LED lights.

事实上，令人震惊的是，它仍然感觉像是丝绸之路上的一座城市，只是现在有了很多 LED 灯。

Walking through the vast central square (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is hugely evocative because it has barely changed since the 17th century.

漫步穿过广阔的中央广场（联合国教科文组织世界遗产）非常令人回味，因为它自 17 世纪以来几乎没有发生过变化。

I noticed a group of Chinese businessmen walking through the stalls while French tourists haggled nearby, and it occurred to me that this demographic mix, too, was unchanged since the 17th century!

我注意到一群中国商人走过摊位，而法国游客在附近讨价还价，我突然想到，这种人口结构自 17 世纪以来也没有改变！

The image below is maybe my favorite photograph I’ve ever taken — it was 10 pm, a hot September night, and the girl on rollerblades skated past the boy eating an ice cream, gliding onwards to the central square.

下面的照片可能是我拍过的最喜欢的照片了——那是晚上 10 点，九月一个炎热的夜晚，穿着旱冰鞋的女孩从吃冰淇淋的男孩身边滑过，滑向中心广场。

Jameh Mosque, which adjoins the square, is the most extraordinary example of Islamic geometric tiling I’ve ever seen.

毗邻广场的贾梅清真寺是我见过的伊斯兰几何瓷砖最非凡的例子。

It is literally jaw-dropping, and photos like this don’t really do it justice:

这确实令人瞠目结舌，像这样的照片并不能真正体现出来：

Ali Qapu Palace , one of the imperial seats of the Safavid Emperors, looks out over the square with a commanding view.

阿里卡普宫是萨法维皇帝的皇宫之一，俯瞰着广场，景色一览无余。

But more beautiful, I thought, was the Chehel Sotoun (“Forty Columns”) royal complex, which had both extraordinary architecture (more amazing ceilings) and some richly mysterious and evocative early modern wall paintings.

但我认为更美丽的是 Chehel Sotoun（“四十柱”）皇家建筑群，它既有非凡的建筑（更令人惊叹的天花板），也有一些神秘而令人回味的早期现代壁画。

The ceilings were a mixture of inlaid/painted wood and cut glass mirrors.

天花板是镶嵌/彩绘木材和切割玻璃镜的混合体。

Paintings throughout the complex (some of which were damaged in recent bombing) show vivid scenes of Abbas the Great and his son doing such things as entertaining the Mughal Emperor, defeating the Ottomans in battle, and drinking copious amounts of wine.

整个建筑群中的绘画（其中一些在最近的轰炸中受损）生动地展示了阿巴斯大帝和他的儿子做一些事情的生动场景，例如招待莫卧儿皇帝、在战斗中击败奥斯曼人以及喝大量的葡萄酒。

A detail of dancers and musicians in the painting of Abbas II entertaining the King of Turkestan.

阿巴斯二世招待土耳其斯坦国王的画作中舞者和音乐家的细节。

I am guessing that it may be Yalda night due to the prominent watermelon, but I might be wrong.

由于西瓜很突出，我猜测这可能是雅尔达之夜，但我可能是错的。

I didn’t take this photo - it’s from Wikipedia - but it gives a good sense of the scale and setting of this extraordinary painting:

我没有拍这张照片 - 它来自维基百科 - 但它很好地体现了这幅非凡画作的规模和背景：

I was struck by this painting showing a barefoot woman relaxing on grass while drinking from a half-empty glass pitcher of red wine:

我对这幅画印象深刻，画中一个赤脚的女人在草地上放松，同时喝着半空的玻璃罐红酒：

In addition to the wine-drinking on display throughout the murals in the complex, there is also at least one detail which may depict a truly risqué scene for any early modern artist: two women who may be depicted as lovers.

除了整个建筑群壁画中展示的饮酒场景外，至少还有一个细节可能描绘出对任何早期现代艺术家来说真正有伤风化的场景：两个可能被描绘成恋人的女人。

(For more on this painting and the culture that produced it, see Afsaneh Najmabadi’s Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards ).

（有关这幅画及其产生的文化的更多信息，请参阅 Afsaneh Najmabadi 的《留胡子的女人和没有胡子的男人》）。

The music room of the complex also featured cut-outs in the shape of wine vases, which I thought was a delightful touch, and also probably had an interesting effect on the acoustics of the room:

该建筑群的音乐室还设有酒瓶形状的切口，我认为这是一种令人愉快的接触，并且也可能对房间的声学效果产生了有趣的影响：

Finally, I was greatly struck by the European style paintings which appeared to depict “ firangi” (Western European) nobles wearing clothing in the style of the mid-seventeenth century, seemingly influenced by Italian and Northern Renaissance art.

最后，欧洲风格的绘画给我留下了深刻的印象，这些绘画似乎描绘了“firangi”（西欧）贵族穿着十七世纪中叶风格的服装，似乎受到意大利和北方文艺复兴艺术的影响。

The area around Isfahan was a stark and arid landscape, heavily mountainous and quite desolate in parts.

伊斯法罕周围地区一片荒凉、干旱，山峦叠嶂，部分地区十分荒凉。

Continuing southeast to Shiraz brings you to a truly ancient region which was, in effect, the eastern edge of the Fertile Crescent.

继续向东南方向前往设拉子，您将到达一个真正古老的地区，实际上是新月沃土的东部边缘。

Shiraz is apparently first mentioned in Elamite tablets circa 2,000 BCE.

设拉子显然是在大约公元前 2,000 年的埃兰石碑中首次被提及。

It has been a wine-producing region for longer than that.

它作为葡萄酒产区的历史比这还要久远。

The local wine , though illegal, is still produced and can be purchased from illicit wine-sellers relatively easily.

当地的葡萄酒虽然是非法的，但仍然在生产，并且可以相对容易地从非法葡萄酒销售商处购买。

I unfortunately didn’t take a photo of it, but I remember it had been poured into a Coca-Cola bottle and tasted very much like Spanish sherry.

不幸的是我没有拍照片，但我记得它被倒入可口可乐瓶中，尝起来很像西班牙雪利酒。

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The brilliantly-colored stained glass windows of the Citadel of Shah Karim Khan , founder of the eighteenth-century Zand dynasty, in Shiraz.

十八世纪赞德王朝的创始人沙卡里姆汗城堡位于设拉子，色彩鲜艳的彩色玻璃窗。

Walking through downtown Shiraz at night, I happened to pass right in front of a wedding party.

晚上，我穿过设拉子市中心，恰巧经过一场婚礼。

Here is the bride arriving at the reception:

这是抵达招待会的新娘：

Not far from Shiraz is the world-famous ancient Persian palace complex of Persepolis, as well as the less-famous but equally interesting Naqsh-e Rostam , the burial site of four Achaemenid emperors including Darius the Great.

距离设拉子不远，有举世闻名的波斯波利斯古代波斯宫殿建筑群，以及不太出名但同样有趣的纳克什罗斯塔姆 (Naqsh-e Rostam)，这是包括大流士大帝在内的四位阿契美尼德皇帝的埋葬地。

As an archaeological site, Persepolis is incredible.

作为一个考古遗址，波斯波利斯是令人难以置信的。

It is however not well maintained and has very little infrastructure.

然而，它维护得不好，基础设施也很少。

I hope that in some better time to come, a future Iranian government is able to create a museum here to rival its counterparts in Egypt and Greece.

我希望在未来的某个更好的时候，未来的伊朗政府能够在这里建立一座博物馆，与埃及和希腊的同行相媲美。

Naqsh-e Rostam, the ceremonial and burial site of the ancient Persian emperors, is within walking distance of Persepolis.

Naqsh-e Rostam 是古代波斯皇帝的仪式和墓地，距离波斯波利斯仅几步之遥。

I remember spending at least a week studying the site in an art history class I took as an undergrad, and I can still remember my professor — the witty and erudite David Castriota — describing this Sassanian bas relief as the first depiction of the new technology (mounted, armored warriors on horseback with lances) that would evolve into the medieval knight.

我记得在本科生的艺术史课上我花了至少一周的时间研究这个遗址，我仍然记得我的教授——机智而博学的大卫·卡斯特里奥塔——将这幅萨珊浅浮雕描述为对新技术（骑在马背上、手持长矛的装甲战士）的第一个描绘，而这种技术将演变成中世纪的骑士。

It was amazing to see it in person:

亲眼目睹真是太神奇了：

It was also fascinating to be able to see, firsthand, the depiction of the humiliation of Emperor Valerian by the Persian emperor circa 260 CE.

能够亲眼目睹关于公元 260 年左右波斯皇帝瓦莱里安皇帝羞辱的描述也很令人着迷。

Valerian was the only Roman emperor ever to have been captured in battle.

瓦莱里安是唯一一位在战斗中被俘的罗马皇帝。

I’m quoting here from Wikipedia, which summarizes one Roman historian’s account of Valerian’s ultimate fate:

我在这里引用维基百科的内容，它总结了一位罗马历史学家对瓦莱里安最终命运的描述：

Valerian was subjected to the greatest insults and humiliation by his captors, like being used as a human footstool by Shapur when mounting his horse.

瓦莱里安受到了绑架者最严重的侮辱和羞辱，比如在沙普尔上马时被用作人的脚凳。

According to this version of events, after a long period of such treatment, Valerian offered Shapur a huge ransom for his release.

根据这个版本的事件，经过长期的这样的待遇，瓦莱里安向沙普尔提供了巨额赎金以释放他。

In reply (according to one version), Shapur was said to have forced Valerian to swallow molten gold…

作为答复（根据一个版本），据说沙普尔强迫瓦莱里安吞下熔化的黄金……

and then had Valerian skinned and his skin stuffed with straw and preserved as a trophy in the main Persian temple.

然后瓦莱里安被剥皮，并用稻草塞满他的皮，并作为战利品保存在主要的波斯神庙中。

Finally, we wrapped up our roadtrip in Yazd, a city that Marco Polo visited and seems to have greatly enjoyed.

最后，我们在亚兹德结束了我们的公路旅行，马可波罗曾访问过这座城市，并且似乎非常喜欢这座城市。

I don’t think I’ve been anywhere besides possibly Oxford or Sienna that is so well-preserved as a premodern cultural site.

除了牛津或锡耶纳之外，我想我还没有去过任何保存得如此完好的前现代文化遗址。

The architecture both in the city and in the extremely arid region around it still preserves the ancient Persian architecture of qanats and Windcatcher towers designed to channel water and cool air through one of the hottest places on earth.

城市及其周围极度干旱地区的建筑仍然保留着古代波斯建筑的坎儿井和捕风塔，旨在通过地球上最热的地方之一输送水和冷空气。

Traditional architecture and an “ice house” (yakhchāl) outside Abarkuh, two hours from Yazd:

Abarkuh 外的传统建筑和“冰屋”(yakhchāl)，距亚兹德两小时车程：