Tourist Attractions

Khark Island

harg Island, also known as Khark, is a coral island formed in the Persian Gulf

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Wikimedia
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Khark or Kharg Island, which according to some geologists is more than 14,000 years old, is located near the coast of Genaveh Port (Bushehr Province) in the Persian Gulf. This residential island is of economic importance and strategic position and is one of the most important terminals of oil export in the world.

The texture of Khark Island is composed of fossils and limbs of corals, bivalves, and other marine animals mixed with sands, and only a thin layer of the island surface, with a thickness of about twenty centimeters to five meters, is hard enough. Khark Island has hot and humid summers and the highest point of the island is called Mount Didehban, which is 87 meters above sea level. The formation of this island is the result of gentle geological folds in the shape of an arch.

The constructions made on Khark Island can be divided into two main groups: traditional constructions (mostly by locals) and modern construction (oil terminals and government departments). The urban fabric of the city is quite dense with narrow and interconnected alleys. The population density is also quite high. The buildings here can be divided into one-story houses with a small courtyard and multi-storied buildings. There are also some large and beautiful mansions among the old constructions, which were mostly built during the British presence for the office employees and laborers.

Khark Island, which was called “The Orphan Gem of the Persian Gulf”, has a long history of inhabitation and has housed many historical monuments such as a fire temple related to the Sassanid era, a Dutch castle, an Islamic cemetery, the Palmiran temples, a Christian cemetery, a Dutch garden, a cemetery of the Pre-Islamic era, the tomb of Mir Mohammad Hanafieh, the tomb of Delman or two sisters, and an Achaemenid inscription of 2400 years old in ancient Persian language and cuneiform script. This island is of international importance and is evidence of the name “Persian Gulf”.

There is a much smaller and elongated island called Khargou in the northern part of Khark Island.

Tourist Attractions

The Ancient Cemetery of Khark Island

Kharg or Khark Island is an inhabited island with great economic significance in the Persian Gulf, southern Iran, home to natural, historical beauties.

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The Ancient Cemetery of the Khark Island (Bushehr Province), which can be attributed to the late Sassanid era and the Zoroastrians of that period, is located somewhere in the mountains of the Khark coral island. There are many graves in this cemetery and due to the shallow depth and the circular surface of some of them, it can be said that this cemetery belonged to the Zoroastrians of the time.

There are also some graves with short entrances having the image of a cross on them, which shows that Christians also buried their dead in this cemetery. Nothing has been found from the men’s graves, but small glasses - possibly of perfumes - as well as low-cost jewelry such as rings and bronze mirrors have been found in the women’s graves.

Even though a number of tombs remain intact, following years of continuous occupation of the island some other graves have either been excavated or reused. All the graves were dug into the rock and a rectangle piece of Lahad (a rectangle hole dug at the bottom of the grave to the side facing the qibla) cover made of plaster had been placed on the graves.

From the variety and number of temples existing on the island, it can be concluded that various ethnic groups and nations such as Iranians, Greeks, Palmarians, and Arabs lived on the island since ancient times, even before the birth of Christ (as).

A fire temple, a Greek temple, a monastery, a Nestorian church, an old mosque, and an ancient cemetery in the eastern part of the island are among the remnants of the sacred places of the people of Khark Island. Studies show that four of the largest religions in the world existed in different forms on the island.

Due to its antiquity and type of construction, the Ancient Cemetery of Khark Island is one of the tourist attractions of the beautiful island of Khark.