Ravansar
Encyclopedia
Ravansar is a city in and the capital of Ravansar County
Ravansar county
Ravansar county is a county in Kermanshah Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Ravansar. It was separated from Javanrud County in 2004. At the 2006 census, the county's population was 44,983, in 10,012 families. The county is subdivided into two districts: the Central District and Shahu...

, Kermanshah Province
Kermanshah Province
Kermanshah Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. The province was known from 1969 to 1986 as Kermanshahan and from 1986 to 1995 as Bakhtaran.-Counties:...

, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. At the 2006 census, its population was 16,383, in 3,838 families.

Ravansar is an ancient city in the northwest of Kermanshah Province. Ravansar Spring is a huge karst spring located prominently in the city of Ravansar. The area around Ravansar is karstified, the karst ground water emerges in various springs like homonymous Ravansar Spring, which are very important for the supply supply drinking water and as the main source of Qara Su River.

History

The earliest evidence for human occupation in the area dates back to Middle Paleolithic
Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age...

 as it is indicated by stone artifacts that have been found at Kuliyan and Jawri caves. There are some archaeological mounds such as Tappa Mousaei and Tappa Khanileh
Khanileh
Khanileh is a small village located 6 km to SW of Ravansar and ca. 56 km to NW of Kermanshah, in Western Iran. It lies at southern slopes of the hilly range of Salakan and it has a commanding view on the Gomeshter plain. Salakan is a part of radiolarian belt and has numerous springs outlets on...

.The most importqnt monument in Rawansar is Tagheh Farhad or Dekhmeh Rawansar
Dekhmeh Rawansar
Rawansar rock-cut tombTagheh Farhad or Dekhmeye Rawansar is a rock-cut tomb located near the town of Rawansar , about 57 km northwest of Kermanshah, at west of Iran...

 which is a rock-cut tomb dating back to Achqemenid period and is about 2500 years old.The tomb is located at eastern face of a single rock called Qolla.

Ravansar was one of the Assyrian army bases called Nikkur or Bit-Istar
Bit-Istar
Bit-Istar was a Assyrian town and a local kingdom at western Zagros that according to inscriptions of Tiglath Pileser III and Sargon II was located close to the source of a river to the east of Dyala....

 during first half of the first millennium BCE.

According to Seleucid and Parthian
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

 documents known as parchments of Awraman
Parchments of Awraman
Parchments of Awraman are three parchment documents of Seleucid era and Parthian found in a cave in Tang-i Var, Kuh-e Salan Mountain, Awraman region in 1909. The cave is close to the village of Shahr Hawraman in Iranian Kurdistan. A Kurdish villager found a stone jar in the cave hermetically...

 or Hawraman, the region (Hawraman) was under control of these two dynasties.

Description

It is located in the northwest of Kermanshah where people speak Sorani
Soranî
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages.- Name :...

 dialect of Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....

. The town located at southern end of Shaho
Shaho
Shaho is a mountain located in the Kurdish district of Hewraman, Kurdistan, Iran. This area contains famous villages such as Hajij, Pirshaliar.-References:...

 Mountain. Its natural landscape and cold water spring (سراب) are very famous. Ravansar is very important karstic area which supply drinking water by large and small springs.

Tourist attractions

Beautiful landscapes and natural ponds such as: Goni-Khani spring and Jawri pond and also the Achaemenid rock tomb of Qoleh and a large archaeological mound called Tappa Mousaeii(Jewish mound) .There are also a number of caves such as Mar Kuliyan.
The Ravansar and Garab Rivers cross the south and southwestern part of this area. The Houl Avar Mountains are in the north and Mahzand is in south east of Ravansar.
The presence of rivers, wetlands, mountains, vegetation and wildlife are among the natural and noticeable elements of this zone. Two mosques besides places of pilgrimage such as ‘Oveis Qarani’, ‘Sheikh Rasool’, ‘Sheikh Nasra’ and ‘Baba Jeiran’ have doubled the attractive of this area.

Quri Qale Cave
Quri Qale Cave
Quri Qale Cave is located Northwest of Ravansar and is one the main tourist attractions of the region. Quri Qale is one of the longest caves in western Asia and is well known for its wealth of speleothems and its archaeological finds. For the first time the cave was explored in the 1950s which...

 is located at NW of Ravansar and is one the main tourist attractions of the region.Quri Qale is one of the longest caves in western Asia and is well known for for its wealth of speleothems and its archaeological finds.For the first time the cave was explored in the 1950s which during that survey, the first 550m documented and lead to a 55m deeep shaft. Later an Iranian team opened its blocked bottom in 1989. The cave has three main chambers which called Namaz, Bolour and Aroos. Talare Bolour has calcite crystals and some stalactites. Talare Aroos is the most magnificent part of the cave and has a glittering crystals and four waterfalls. The cave also is famous for its colony of mouse ear bats that are very rare in this part of Zagros. Archaeologists have found a number of silver plates in this cave that are embellished with animal or monster figures and one presents even a Pahlavi inscription. These plates dates back to late Sassanian period.

Notable people

Mirza Ahmad dawashi was a poet born in Rawansar in 1898. He had only a traditional maktab education in the nearby village of Tamtam. Later he joined to forces of Kurdish ruler, Sardar Rashid Khan, the last of Ardalan rulers.In his admiration, a congress held in Kermanshah in 1975 and he invited to present his poems to the audiences.He was dead in 1978 and buried near the Tomb of Wais
Tomb of Wais
Tome of Wais is a sacred and holy shrine on the top of a mountain with same name in northwest of Kermanshah. The building dates back to Seljuq period . People believe that the tomb belong to one companion of prophet Mohammad who was buried here on top of the mountain...

.

Other notable people from Ravansar are Sheikh Mohammad Saeid Naghshbandi, Seyed Mohammad Taher Hashemi, Seyed Vajihedin Hashemi, and Khorshid Namaye Dawashi (a lady poet).
َAyat Ahmadnezhad is a famous Kurdish singer from Ravansar whose clips are favorite among young Kurdish people and broadcast from various Kurdish TV channels.

See also

  • Dekhmeh Rawansar
    Dekhmeh Rawansar
    Rawansar rock-cut tombTagheh Farhad or Dekhmeye Rawansar is a rock-cut tomb located near the town of Rawansar , about 57 km northwest of Kermanshah, at west of Iran...

  • Khanileh
    Khanileh
    Khanileh is a small village located 6 km to SW of Ravansar and ca. 56 km to NW of Kermanshah, in Western Iran. It lies at southern slopes of the hilly range of Salakan and it has a commanding view on the Gomeshter plain. Salakan is a part of radiolarian belt and has numerous springs outlets on...

  • Jaff tribe
  • Ardalan
    Ardalan
    Ardalan or was the name of a vassaldom in north-western Persia during Qajar period.Ardalan vassaldom was established in an area encompassing present day Iranian province of Kurdistan from medieval period up to mid 19th century. Ardalan is also the name of the ruling family of that vassaldom...

  • Javanroud
    Javanroud
    Javanrud is a city in and the capital of Javanrud County, Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 43,104, in 9,591 families....

  • Paveh
    Paveh
    Paveh is a city in and the capital of Paveh County, Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 19,774, in 5,171 families....

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