Masuleh

Masuleh is a city in Sardar-e Jangal District of Fuman County, Gilan province, Iran. It was founded in the 10th century.

Masuleh is approximately 60 km southwest of Rasht and 32 km west of Fuman. Its people are Talysh. The village is 1,050 meters above sea level in the Alborz (or Elburz) mountain range, near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The village itself has a difference in elevation of 100 meters.

Although it has been written that the community was established around 10 AD, the province of Gilan has a long history. The first village of Masuleh was established around 1006 AD, 6 km northwest of the current city, and it is called Old-Masuleh (Kohneh Masuleh in Persian). People moved from Old-Masuleh to the current city because of pestilence and attacks from neighbouring communities.

Masouheh-Rood-Khan is the river passing through the city, with a waterfall located just 200 meters away from the village. It's cut-off by snow during the winter months. Fog is the predominant weather feature of Masuleh.

Language
The native people of Masuleh speak Talysh.

Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 554 in 180 households. The following census in 2011 counted 568 people in 210 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 393 people in 147 households.

Architecture
Buildings are mostly two stories (1st floor and 'ground' floor), but it must be said that there are three-story and even four-story houses in Masuleh. Some of the rows have three floors, which are important due to their brick and wooden structure.

There are four main local communities at the city named: "Maza-var" (meaning beside the Mosque) at the south, "Khana-var" (beside homes) at the East, "Kasha-sar" (stretched on top) at the North, and, "Assa-mahala" (Assad community) at the West. Apparently, down town is the Market (Bazaar) area and also the main mosque of the city, named "O-ne-ben-ne Ali" (Awn Ibn Mohammad Ibn Ali Ibn. Abi Taleb) built in 969 AD.

In some of these houses, it has been possible to live in separate apartments in different periods. For example, the Zandipour House, which is now used as an apartment hotel, was accommodated by different families who lived in their separate apartment units for a long time. Each of these units had a separate bathroom and different families lived separately in each of the three floors. However, some three-story houses were occupied by an extended family as the children who were married lived together with their parents in a class structural house.

Girih tiling in buildings of Masuleh


Girih tiling consists of straight and broken lines on a regular basis that could be reasonably expanded in the surface.

The historical city of Masuleh is a good model for sustainable architecture and its final aim is respecting the culture and friendly relationship with nature and improving the life style of its residents.

Archaeology
Archaeological survey of the mountain ranges overlooking Masouleh shows that this mountainous region was probably occupied by ancient herders and nomads at least since the late Bronze Age.

Remains of late prehistoric, historic, and Islamic times were discovered on the mountain top above 2500 meters above sea level(See). These mountains were used seasonally, at least since the late Neolithic (5000 BC) Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC), which continued during the Iron Age I (1500-1100 BC), Iron Age  III (800-500 BC), Parthian  (247 BC to 224 CE), Buyid (943–1029 CE), Seljuk (1043–1051 CE) and Ilkhanid  (1306–1335 CE) periods(tehrantimes).

Archaeologists discovered pottery sherds, animal bones, and stone tools that date back to about 7,000 years ago.

Tourism areas
Waterfalls: Kooshm, Larcheshme, and Kourbar.