Hamedan’s handicrafts are as old as the city’s history. Among arts of Hamedan’s artists are carpet-weaving, pottery, leatherwork and woodwork.
By definition handicrafts cover such works, which are partially or fully produced by using natural materials and hands, the Persian daily ’Iran’ reported. Behjat Abbasi, a handicraft expert at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) and an avid admirer of Hamedan handicraft artists, said handicrafts of each region emanate from ethnic, national and geographical characteristics. Every artist is inspired by the geography of his/her habitat. Design and colors that they use are taken from their surrounding environment.
The head of Hamedan Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, Assadollah Bayat noted that according to the latest statistics, a total of 1,376 pottery workshops are operational in Assadabad, Razan, Touyserkan, Bahar and Hamedan. About 4,546 people are active in the province’s pottery sector. The highest number of people who are active in the industry pertains to the city of Bahar. This figure is 3,763 people in 265 production units. Laljin, viewed as the hub of provincial pottery and ceramics, has 700 workshops itself. Azure pottery is the hallmark of the province and is sold in other parts of the country too. The very first pottery of the province were turquoise in color, but gradually their color changed and they became azure.
Whenever anything is said of Hamedan, people unconsciously are reminded of Laljin pottery, but Bayat opined that inlaid works is the top handicraft industry of the province due to quantitative considerations.
“However, it must be noted that since wood gradually decays, endurance of woodworks cannot be determined anywhere in the world,“ Bayat commented.
Regarding facts and figures of the provincial wood industry, he observed, “There are 5,463 wood workshops in the province where 9,999 people are employed. From the said figure, 421 workshops and 884 employees pertains to the city of Hamedan and the rest to the cities of Nahavand, Kaboudarahang, Bahar and Razan.“
He added that traditional leather works is another handicraft of the province.
Bayat recalled that a total of 216 leather workshops operate in the country wherein 814 people work.
“Hamedan’s cow leather is of international prominence,“ he noted.
Bayat referred to the latest statistics compiled at the end of last year (March 19) and said that as a whole there are 12,848 handicrafts workshops in the province where 22,035 people are employed.
“From the said figures, the highest pertains to inlaid works and woodworks. Malayer is the top city of the province in terms of inlaid works and woodworks with 2,325 workshops and 2,495 employees,“ he noted.
Handicrafts of each region or city or country have been established due to everyday needs. Man learned to exploit nature and available tools to make objects needed in his life. Therefore, handicrafts actually came to the fore in people’s homes, which eventually transformed into workshops.
Since producing handicraft in the province, such as carpet weaving, leather industries and basket weaving, do not require a large capital or space, and since many artistic works can be produced by simple tools, many people are attracted to handicrafts.
Export of handicrafts is an important income earner in the province. The top export is carpets, worth over eight million dollars a year.
Bayat recalled that in 2007-8 handicraft exports amounted to $20 million.
“Deducing eight million dollars of carpet exports from the figure, the remaining portion pertains to other industries such as pottery and woodworks,“ he concluded.
Hamedan’s handicrafts are exported in two modes, one via the provincial customs administration, which is known as official exports and the other via the customs offices in other cities of the country known as unofficial exports.

Archeologists have discovered six rooms in an ancient fortress dating back to Parthian era in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah.
The first season of excavations in the ancient fortress aimed to reveal the buried facts of Sassanid and Parthian history, reported Press TV.
The first season concluded with the discovery of six residential rooms with a unique architecture.
The 40-hectare fortress belongs to Parthian dynasty (250 BC-224 AD). However, its dynamic existence is known to have continued to Sassanid and early Islamic eras as well.
The ancient structure consists of barracks, defense quarters, a castle and a fire temple.
The excavation is aimed at finding out more about the connection between house of worship with other parts of the castle.

With all its inevitable imperfections, brick and pattern begins with the preliminary observation of a renewed popularity of the architectural use of bricks, in the context of which craftsmen and artists have been able to construct walls, adorned with patterns derived from their creative minds and that these patterns are different from those used in the past eras, as to constitute a class of their own. According to Caroun website, since a long time ago, bricks have been inseparable elements of wall construction, thus acquiring a particular status in the history of architecture as the building material par excellence. Ever since they were invented in Babylon, the manufacture of bricks, whether sun-dried or fired, became common practice, developing steadfastly throughout the world.
Clay is available in most regions of the planet, providing the best building material, which all of the people soon put to good use, first mixing it with water and trampling it into a uniform paste, and then molding it into rectangular blocks, which they left to dry in the sun and later on took to kilns for firing. The hard, durable latter form could be readily used in building houses or other monuments. Thus, the simplest building materials available to rich and poor alike were none but raw bricks (Khesht) and baked bricks (Ajor).
History of Brick Making
It is generally believed that the art of brick making originated about 5000 BC. The inhabitants of the banks of Nile had noticed that the layer of alluvial deposits left behind every year by the tumultuous waters soon dried and cracked into large and small ’cakes’, about four to five centimeters thick, which could be used in construction of walls.
Thanks to the eagerness of man’s mind for progress and innovation, it was a first step in casting mud into regularly shaped molds letting the blocks dry hard in the sun and utilizing the resulting bricks instead.
And soon, searching means for making these more solid, cattle dung was mixed with the clay mud; later on, in order to prevent the bricks from cracking, while losing their water contents, cut straw was added in about the same proportion as clay with its myriad blades acting as tiny “reinforcement rods“ (the straw was first dipped in water, which softened in fibers, making the mixing process easier on skin).
Ever since baked bricks were invented, they constituted one of the principal building materials which were soon used in huge quantities, in all parts of buildings.
Scholars unanimously believe that the undisputed master artisans in the field were from East. Those early architects faced an arduous task, when they came to adopt appropriate dimensions and proportions for the molds to be used.
In other words, this was an artistic problem, which required reflection. The alluvial “cakes“ of the Nile banks had been used as such, roughly stacked atop one another, whereas in making bricks, whether raw or baked, thought was to be given to the proper alignment and interlocking of individual bricks, to their resistance under burden, etc.
The best model adopted was the cubic two-widths-long, which was made in various sizes all over the world. As for their thickness, this varied in the course of time. At first, bricks tended to be quite large, and proportionally very thick, but gradually became thinner. These were in turn subdivided into various fragments, each bearing a name of its own. The form of bricks varied from one region to another. Moreover, for want of widespread literacy, these appellations were propagated orally, undergoing inevitable alterations in different regions. Eventually, they were transferred from one generation to another. It was only when the cultures of various countries could be recorded in written form that they became uniformly standardized.

Bricks in Persian Architecture
Iranian architects also made the best use of bricks. In Susa (Shush), the prosperous capital of Elamites, brick architecture soon prevailed. The archeological excavations made on this pre-historic site have uncovered illustrated porcelain, which speak to the long-lasting importance of the region as well as clay tablets dating back to 1700 BC which include various documents and contracts.
Darius the Great, of the Achaemenid dynasty had the Palace of Susa erected in 494 BC. This brick monument was an expression of the great civilization, which had arisen in western Iran and transfigured the country. Thus it appears that, throughout the world, bricks have long formed the base of every building.
Situated in semi-tropical region, with average temperature around 40 degrees Celsius, Iran displays sharp variations of temperature between its northern and southern regions and therefore building materials have to be chosen in accordance with the local climate.
An unfortunate trend of covering the facade of buildings with stone slabs became popular all over Iran for a while, regardless of their low resistance to temperature variations, which exposed them to rapidly hot weather in summer and freezing cold in winter. Used empirically, with low level of technical know-how, these proved unfit for the purpose.
Meanwhile, relying on the progress of technology, manufacturers active in various fields began experimenting with all sources of natural and synthetic materials with which to construct buildings. But their products, notwithstanding the propaganda failed to yield good results and were soon abandoned. And yet again bricks, the traditional building material of every land, replaced them all. Thus, after a while, a renewed interest in bricks appeared, but this time, the artists’ tastes had evolved. Brick facades proliferated in various cities, and architects were able to give vent to their creativity in decorating interior and exterior of the buildings with this material.
Since ancient times, bricks have essentially been molded blocks of clay mixed with water and eventually hardened by the fire. But, the evolution of this process varied from country to country. In Iran, bricks were first baked in cylindrical pit kilns, which were soon replaced by tunnel kilns. These remained in use until the advent of modern technology, when all kinds of quite different baking methods were used.
It is also noteworthy that by relying on advanced chemical technologies, efforts are being made for producing bricks of desired colors, which also can be more solid and resistant to corrosion.

Head of Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO), Esfandiyar Rahim Mashaei said that Iran and India have a long history of common cultural ties.
In a meeting with India’s Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni in New Delhi, the two sides signed an agreement for boosting tourism and cultural ties, IRNA reported.
Mashaei said that Iran and India can collaborate in the field of research in Persian language.
“Through contacts at higher levels, both countries can become exemplary for other countries in terms of friendly ties and collaboration,“ he added. He pointed out that mysticism, philosophy, mathematics and medical science are some of areas where India and Iran have been working and can work further to forge bilateral ties.
Mashaei further said that both countries can play a key role in the regional cooperation by working closely on issues which will bring peace and tranquility to the region.