Nashtifan Windmills
Location: Khaf city, Razavi Khorasan province

Days of trip: (Without air plane) 3-4 Days from Tehran to Tehran (Without heavy traffic you need About 12-14 hr driving from Tehran to Nashtifan)
Attention: In holidays there is heavy traffic in all roads around Tehran.

Best time to visit: No limit, but Spring is a best time.
Daily time visit: No
Difficulty level: Easy
Legal permission need: No
Animal risk: No
Lost risk: No
GSM Mobile Antenna: Yes
Hotel: No
Shop: Yes
Gasoline: Yes
Village: Located in Nashtifan
Nearest airport: No airport less than 100 km
Nearest train station: No station less than 100 km

Introduction: Nashtifan (Persan: نشطیفان، نشتیفان) is a town located in the southern parts of Khorasan Razavi province 20 kilometers away from Khaf and 30 kilometers away from the border with Afghanistan. One of the main characteristics of the area is the strong winds that blow across it, causing it to initially be called Nish Toofan (storm’s sting). As a result of the natural elements in the area, windmills have been part of the region’s industrial creativity and have been used throughout many centuries. With the speed of the wind at times reaching 120 kilometers per hour, such windmills have been constructed perpendicular to the direction of the wind flow to maximize its output. The 120 day winds no doubt play the most crucial role in supplying the necessary force for running the windmills although the also affect the everyday life of the locals in many other aspects as well.

Wind power has been used by humans since antiquity. Great oceans were crossed to explore unknown lands by putting up sails against the wind. At home, wind drove machines that ground grains between stones to produce flour and pumped water from rivers and wells. The first practical windmills went up in Persia, possibly as early as the 5th century AD. These were horizontal windmills with long vertical driveshaft with six to twelve rectangular sails covered in reed matting or cloth, and they were used at homes as well as in grist milling and sugarcane industries. The use of windmills became widespread across the Middle East and Central Asia, and later spread to China, India and the rest of Europe. Some of these earliest examples of vertical windmills can be seen in the town of Nashtifan, where they are still in use.



Abstract:
Windmill (Asbad) is one of the most important kavirian architectural constructions in Iran. This small and apparently plain and simple factory is the significant evidence of ancient Iranians’ ability to put art and science together in using native and local feasibilities and possibilities and natural power to satisfying their first need of having food. Khourasan as a vast area in Iran has an old history in creation and production of brilliant architectural constructions before and after adopting Islam by Iranian people, especially during Islamic period. In this area, there are lots of unique incomparable windmills which are more than 1000 years old. These exclusive and exceptional windmills can be found in Nahbandan, Khawf, Nashtifan, Khargard, Barabad and some other areas in Great Khourasan, among all of them only Nashtifan’s windmills complex is long-lasting and still standing. Actually, even now some parts of this set of buildings are working. Another reason for the significance of this study is that, this local-industrial unique architectural complex is the most matchless and incomparable windmill construction in Iran and the oldest windmill complex with vertical axis in the world. This review generally deals with a broad look at windmill as a local-industrial unique architectural construction and specifically with describing Nashtifan’s windmills, their architectural structure and organization, their operational procedure and functional process in order for revealing their great concealed and hidden architectural values. The research method is analytical-descriptive. In order to prepare and propose a theoretical framework for obtaining and using information about architectural specifications and characteristics, firstly review of literature will be done on several questions about windmills and their function. In situ investigation and comprehensive assessment and examination of a windmill unit is another important part of this research. The result of this part of the study is preparation of some plots and drawings of a windmill unit which is one of the few and limited working and ongoing units. In these plots and schemes, architectural spaces in a windmill unit are shown. Theses spaces and rooms are “Askhane”, the bottom room of windmill and the place of mill stone, and “Parkhane” the top part of windmill and the pace that “charkhbad” (wind round or disk) is located. Two points that are discussed in this paper are especially worthy of notice: first the operation system of windmills from first step of providing wheat to the last one of making flour and stopping the circle of windmill; second is the local construction materials used in Nashtifan Windmills. Some of these local construction materials which have an important and vital role and position in proper and appropriate work of windmills are the wood of some native trees, mud brick, and Kahgel (mix of clay and straw). According to these points, this study is aimed to show the hidden values and capacities of this unknown architectural structure of our cultural heritage so that high-quality and superior conservation can be provided for this worthy and valuable achievement.



There are approximately 30 of such windmills scattered thought the area and can reach heights of 15-20 meters. The windmills are believed to have been erected during the Safavid dynasty and are generally constructed out of clay, straw and wood. The wooden blades of these windmills turn the grinding stones in a room made of clay. Each of the windmills consist of 8 rotating chambers with each chamber housing 6 vertical blades (essentially a wall with slits). Once the chambers begin rotating by the force of the wind, it results in the turning of the windmill’s main axle which was in turn is connected to grain grinders. The vibrations created by such rotation gradually shifts the grains from their holding container to the grain grinders. The end result is that the grain is ground into flour.

These windmills are among the oldest windmills of the world and the idea to construct windmills in other countries, particularly the Netherlands, has been transferred to these countries from Iran. These windmills were invented in eastern Persia around 500-900 A.D. The first known documented design is one with vertical sails made of bundles of reeds or wood which were attached to the central vertical shaft by horizontal struts. The one downside to such windmills is that because the wind panels rotate horizontally, only one side will be absorbing the wind energy while the other half of the device will essentially be going against the wind current and thus wasting energy in order to do so. As a result the blades can never move faster than, or even at, the speed of the wind.

In 2002 the windmills of Nashtifan were registered as a national heritage site by Iran’s Cultural Heritage Department.