Howz

In traditional Persian architecture, a howz (Persian: حوض) is a centrally positioned symmetrical axis pool. If in a traditional house or private courtyard, it is used for bathing, aesthetics or both. If in a sahn of a mosque, it is used for performing ablutions. A howz is usually around 30 centimetres (12 in) deep. It may be used as a "theatre" for people to sit on all sides of the pool while others entertain.

Howz is a feature of the Persian gardens.

Central Asia

In Bukhara, hauz (Uzbek: hovuz) were the city's main source of drinking water until the Soviet period. They were fed by branches of the Shahrud, the city's main canal, and many were linked to one another by open channels or covered underground conduits called tazar. Under the Manghit dynasty, distribution was overseen by a chief mirab, and the canal was cleaned through hashar, compulsory communal labor by residents. The standing water also spread disease, including dracunculiasis (locally rishta) and malaria. In the 1920s and 1930s Soviet authorities gradually filled in most of the pools and replaced them with modern water distribution. The early 17th-century Lab-i Hauz is one of the few that survive.

Gallery

A small howz in a mosque in Tehran shaped in the traditional form of two squares, one rotated 45 degrees
Small howz in Isfahan
A howz in the historical bath house of Arg of Karim Khan
Howz in Soltan Amir Ahmad Bath House, Kashan, Iran
A howz in an historical underground teahouse (chaikhaneh) in Yazd
Howz of the Eram Garden
The howz in courtyard of Mostowfi House
A big rectangular howz in a traditional Iranian house
Howz of the Khaneh Lari, Yazd
An asymmetrical empty howz

References

↑ Mohammad R. Ghanoonparvar (2001). Translating the Garden. University of Texas Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-292-72835-6.
↑ Ghanoonparvar, M.R. (2001). Translating the Garden. University of Texas Press. LCCN 2001017138. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
↑ Anthony Frost; Ralph Yarrow (30 August 2007). Improvisation in Drama. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-137-07593-2.
1 2 3 4 Benjamin, Craig (2018). "Soviet Central Asia and the Preservation of History". Humanities. 7 (3): 73. doi:10.3390/h7030073.
1 2 3 Yuldosheva, Bibirajab; Bobojonova, Feruza; Gʻaniyeva, Sarvinoz (April 2025). "Mangʻitlar davrida Buxorodagi suv inshootlari va ularning tarixiy roli" [Water structures in Bukhara during the Manghit period and their historical role] (PDF). Oriental Renaissance: Innovative, Educational, Natural and Social Sciences (in Uzbek). 5 (4): 325–332.