A Review of the Historical Background of Yazd’s Vaqt-o-Sa‘at Square: Safavid Era and Earlier

Vaqt-o-Sa‘at Square is one of the historical squares of Yazd. The current body of research on this square shows that no study has been done that can explain the historical background and its formation process based on valid historical documents, causing many ambiguities and lack of necessary knowledge. Therefore, based on new historical field evidence obtained in the last two decades, this article tries to provide a clear description of the historical background and the process of formation of this square. For this purpose, this study uses the descriptive-analytical method and various sources including historical texts, archaeological studies, field research, historical documents including aerial photographs and archival images, and oral accounts (questions from persons familiar with the square). Understanding the historical background of the square is based on classifying the historical layers of the square, some of which have only been recently identified (including the historic Bell from the seventh century AH, the payab of the Waqf-abad qanat and that of the Zarch qanat from the eighth century AH, the Timurid mosque in the north of the square, and other archeological observations of the last two decades). There are also some other historical elements and layers mentioned in this article, which despite being previously introduced in other studies, were not properly investigated regarding the historical background of the square (including the tomb of Seyyed Rokn al-Din, Vaqt-o-Sa‘at water reservoir, the nakhl in the square and the historic tombstone. The historical elements around the square from the seventh century to the twelfth century AH are evidence of the richness of historical layers forming this square. This study shows that although many sources date the origin of Vaqt-o-Sa‘at Square to the eighth century AH, it was founded in the Safavid era and the oldest element enclosing the square is the water reservoir on the north side of the square dating from the late Safavid era.