Even by Iran’s super-hospitable standards, Sanandaj is a remarkably friendly city. It’s the capital of Kordestan province, a good base for visits to Marivan, and a great place to learn more about Kurdish history and culture. You’ll see plenty of men wearing traditional cummerbunds and baggy Kurdish trousers. Yet it’s a modern, noticeably prosperous city with a large, fashionable population of students keen to try out their English. In Sanandaj’s Sorani-Kurdish language, ju-an means beautiful and deso hoshbe means thank you.
Busily commercial Ferdosi St links the twin centres of Enqelab Sq and Azadi Sq. From the latter, Abidar St slopes up into the folds of a rocky ridge that was the city’s historic defense and is today the pleasant Abidar mountain park. Asef edifice named “Kurdish house” as a symbol of Kurds tribe’s cultural identity is the most valuable cultural relics of Sanandaj.
The original building of edifice construction contains the most parts of northern side which includes the ceremonial hall, rooms and corridors psarties and some parts of the eastern spaces related to Safavid era and the other parts or components have been added in Qajar and Pahlavi periods. Motamed Hashemiha’s family (Amjad al-Ashraf) is known as the first founder of this building and probably Mirza Mohammad Reza Vaziri (Asef Divan’s father) has owned it and this edifice gained its final magnificence by constructing the entrance (with a brick facade on the Iranian Baroque style) and eastern and western parts of it during Asef Divan period.
The Cultural Heritage Organization of Kurdistan has been considered as the management of this building in 1376 and it was reopened as the biggest anthropology museum relating to one tribe in Iran in 1382. Stucco, old Sashes, carved stones, mirror decorations, carved brick and arches have been reflected skillfully in this building.
In addition to the building entrance and the entrance corridor, aqueducts and dividing water rooms, it has four gates known as the outer courtyard (main), inner courtyard, kitchen garden and employees yard. In the southwest corner of edifice, a specific bath was built in the architectural style of Iranian bath with lime designs.
