The fascinating pigeon towers of Isfahan, Iran

*WS 161 – The fascinating pigeon towers of Isfahan, Iran*

For centuries Isfahan relied on pigeon dropping to fertilise the city’s fields. The dropping is rich in nitrogen. To gather the dropping, special tower homes were built for the pigeons. The typical pigeon tower is cylindrical and constructed of unfired mud brick, lime plaster and gypsum. The biggest could be 20 m in diameter and 20 m high, and could house up to 15,000 pigeons. 

The interior consists of endless nesting balconies in checkerboard honeycomb pattern scattered uniformly along the walls. Each hole is about 20 cm by 20 cm by 28 cm. The towers were constructed as impenetrable fortresses that could shelter the pigeons from predators. Entry was from the top and the small size of the entrances prohibits large birds such as hawks or owls from entering inside.

The birds are not captured and trained to occupy the towers, rather, they are instinctively attracted to the towers because they resemble their natural habitat of rocky ledges and crevices. The birds were provided housing, but not food. The flocks would go out to forage during the day and return at night. 

The towers originally numbered in the thousands. Now farmers use artificial fertilisers instead of bird droppings. Unused and unattended pigeon towers started to collapse. Now only several hundred could be found. 

In 2018 we visited one on Mardavij Street in Isfahan, dated to the 17th century. It consists of 8 small cylinders inside a large outer cylinder. It is 18 m high and could house some 12,000 birds. The cone in the last photo provides the entry points for the pigeons at the roof top.