What's new

Inside views of a Pamiri House

@Taygibay ,@anant_s ,@Joe Shearer ,@Mr.Meap ,@krash ,@saiyan0321 ,@HRK ,@Slav Defence , another classical image. Focus on the pillars, beautifully crafted...
Since Kalash valley is in Chitral and as we all know Chitral shares many similarities with GB....

103.jpg


Source:
http://pamirtimes.net/2016/05/17/pi...festival-celebrated-in-kalash-valley-chitral/
 
Last edited:
It looks like a hall of some type, but the domes are very much similar to what you see inside the home too. It is a work of art.
Another thing that strikes is the colorful dresses women are wearing. Looks like some kind of traditional attire for social occasion.

Also notice intricate wood work on pillar!
 
Another thing that strikes is the colorful dresses women are wearing. Looks like some kind of traditional attire for social occasion.

Also notice intricate wood work on pillar!
It's the famous Kalash valley, dress is very common and the festival is very famous. And yes the pillars are very striking too. Actually the pillars and the roof(as you can see in the OP) are two of the most unique things about a Pamiri house.
 
Last edited:
Inside-the-Pamir-House-4.jpg


The Pamiri house is a single large room, with compartments and elevated portions used for different purposes and occasions. The exquisitely and colorfully decorated house, with carpeted walls, are a delight for the eyes. Elements of faith have been embedded in the architecture, structure, of the house; the five pillars denote the Panjutan (five members of the prophet’s (PBUH) family. There are many similarities in the houses built in different parts of the Giglit-Baltistan and Chitral regions, and the ones in Badakhshan region of Tajikistan, shown in the photographs below. A very prominent feature of the Pamiri houses is the central roof-opening, used for ventilation and letting the light in.

Inside-the-Pamir-House-5.jpg


The entrance/exit
Inside-the-Pamir-House-7.jpg

The sitting area
Inside-the-Pamir-House-3.jpg

Different compartments inside the house
Inside-the-Pamir-House-9.jpg


Different utensils and photographs depicting the region’s history at display


Inside-the-Pamir-House-11.jpg


Handicrafts
Inside-the-Pamir-House-10.jpg

A man dressed in the traditional winter Pamiri attire

Inside-the-Pamir-House-1.jpg

Exterior view of the house that is also being used a museum

Inside views of a Pamiri House | PAMIR TIMES | Voices of the Mountain Communities
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This is what almost all houses in Gilgit look like, the roof is exactly the same. Go in Hunza, Ghizer, this is just so refreshing to see, so homely for me. The designing on the walls is usually the same and they have a hole in the roof, as they install a, 'chula', or you can say a heater. Good to see, thought i'd share.
@Mr.Meap ,@Slav Defence ,@HRK ,@unleashed ,@PARIKRAMA ,@Levina ,@krash ,@Color_Less_Sky ,@Ammara Chaudhry ,@Zibago ,@Daneshmand ,@Gufi ,@Shah01 ,@The Eagle ,@anant_s ......
I hope Pakistan protects this heritage.
 
Beautiful structure! It's reminiscent of many Pacific cultures,
like Hawaii and French Polynesia, and West Coast Indians
in North America : open sided low communal buildings with
tradition showing through the decor. The colours also fit.
The ladies' garments look more like those found all over
South(/Central) America though.


That had me wondering about the weather and temperatures
in Pamir land. For when I look at some pictures of Pakistan,
I think : I know this deciduous forest panorama with the hues
of trees ranging from green to yellow to deep reds and oranges.
Except that maps give Pakistan as desert all over which has
me thinking it must be contained to a few mountain valleys in
the North N-E end of the country.

In any case, very lively and beautiful; thanks WAJsal, my friend, Tay.
 
Afghanistan's Enigmatic Food Secrets
  • By Rowena Henley
In May 2016, a cookbook on one of the most remote and enigmatic cultures in the world won the title of Best Cookbook Of The Year at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

This surprising accolade paid tribute to the Pamir region on the border of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, an ominous environment of steep cliffs, deep valleys, remote villages and harsh weather. It seems an unlikely place to source award-winning recipes – but With Our Own Hands is far more than just a recipe book.
p042sbry.jpg

The ambitious project began in 2009, when PhD student Jamila Haider and her co-author, Dutch ethno-botanist Fredrik van Oudenhoven, met while working in Tajikistan. They instantly discovered a mutual love for the Pamir region and a mutual anxiety for its future. While working on development projects, both scientists had seen the erosion of Pamiri traditions firsthand, with foreign food being favoured over ancestral recipes and young people leaving the mountains without plans to return.

The day after their first meeting, the two scientists came across an elderly grandmother while exploring the village of Mun in the Ghund Valley of the Tajik Pamirs. The woman recounted the recipes of her childhood and explained the importance they held for her and the Pamiri people. These recipes had only ever been passed down orally from generation to generation.
p042sbmr.jpg


“The woman asked us to write down her recipes. That way, she said, she could leave them for her children and grandchildren,” Haider said. “The real need for the book became very clear.”

Each of the book’s 100 recipes is explored through the eyes of the Pamiri people and the history of their homeland, with spellbinding stories of local legends, opium addiction and Soviet influence. Readers will learn that time can be recorded without a clock and that “enough” can be a form of measurement. They will pick up practical tips: how to store meat without a refrigerator, for example, or how to turn plants into medicine.
p042sbcl.jpg

The Pamir region is full of cultural riches and one of a kind recipes (Credit: Frederik Van Oudenhoven)

Special care is taken to explain the relationship between the land and what it produces, and how this remote, hostile landscape is unpredictably perfect for delicious, unique ingredients to grow. Rush-kakht, for example, a type of red wheat used to make Baht (a thick porridge) for Baht Ayom, the Persian New Year, only grows in very specific microclimates in the upper reaches of the Bartang Valley.

“It has a very high sugar content,” Haider explained, “and releases its sweetness slowly, creating a distinct, rich and much beloved taste.”

The book itself is as vibrant as the people and recipes it describes, with exquisite, intimate photography decorating almost every page. The text is presented in three languages, with Dari (in Arabic script) and Tajik (in Cyrillic) sitting alongside the English. Although the translation process was tough (with Haider's translator having to recruit a “small army” of students to help), the authors knew just how essential it was for the Pamiri people to see their recipes written in their mother tongues.
p042sc5h.jpg

The cookbook came full circle when the authors returned to the village to distribute copies (Credit: Fredrik van Oudenhoven)

Five years after meeting the grandmother, Haider and Oudenhoven returned to the region with 1,700 books to distribute to the local people – and finally saw their hard work pay off.

“At first, people liked looking through the photographs, and finding people and landscapes that they knew,” Haider said. “But when they started reading it, and realising that these were the names of local dishes and crops, which they had never seen in print before, some of them started to laugh in disbelief! One man told us, ‘you have captured our knowledge that before only existed in our hands.’”

Haider recounted how one woman believed the book was so precious that she sewed a bag to protect it in, and keeps it next to her Quran.
p042scj8.jpg

"This remote, hostile landscape is unpredictably perfect for delicious, unique ingredients to grow" (Credit: Jamila Haider)

“When we hear of Afghanistan or see images of it in the news, we see bombs, and barren deserts with tanks and Talib fighters, or we hear stories of female oppression and inequality,” Haider said.

She hopes that this book will help change perceptions of the villages, towns and cities of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, focussing instead on the many cultural riches – and delicious dishes – to be found.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160727-the-secret-food-of-afghanistan
 
The energy-efficient multipurpose design of traditional houses in Gilgit-Baltistan

Ghulbi-Ha-Sir-Aurel-Stein.jpg


The mountainous region of Gilgit Baltistan is incredibly rich in diverse cultural heritage. This cultural heritage of the region manifests itself in its traditions, music, handicrafts, architecture, and the famous free style polo of the region. Because of diverse ethnic backgrounds there is cultural diversity among different region but over all the cultural heritage of Gilgit Baltistan is unique, natural and simple. The traditional house (ha, door, khoun or go’at) is a very important symbol of this cultural heritage. For some one with an untrained eye, the traditional house is just a very basic structure. On the other hand if someone critically analyzes the design keeping in view the climatic conditions, local traditions and limited recourses in past, this simple structure is reflection of thousands years of wisdom.

Traditional House of Gojal, Hunza, Nager, Gilgit and Ghizer

The history of Traditional Home( Khoun, Ha, Go’at, Door) is believed to be around two thousand years old .

According to history the traditional house was designed around 2000 years back in the era of Legendary Aryan king Jamshid. In order to protect his people from extreme cold conditions architects of king Jamshid designed a simple, earthquake proof, multipurpose self-contained and self-sustained house. Even after thousands of years this design is still functional and very useful. Similar houses are still found in the pamir region and parts of Tajikistan and Badakhshan and other parts of central Asia. No modern architecture design can replace the traditional home of Gilgit Baltistan to full fill the local needs and traditions. There are slight differences in the design in different regions but the basic concept and structure is same.

The Walls and outside



The out side is very simple. The walls of old house are built with stone and mud. The walls are very wide and thick as compared to the modern houses. The wide walls provide good insulation both against hot and cold. Usually there is a small courtyard outside the house. A veranda covers the front side of the house. In old houses there are no windows on the outer wall, instead there is a beautifully designed square skylight called (sagam, som,sum, komal, eyechan)in different regional langauges . This opening acts as a window for light and air, and exhaust for the smoke. Because the opening lies horizontally and there is layer of warm air below the opening, cold air hardly reaches inside the house. The warm air from inside pushes the cold air up and out. This design is very much according to the rules of physics, as we know warm air is lighter and tends to move upwards. This design is extremely energy efficient.

In some old traditional houses once you enter the main door there is a small lobby, used for sitting, eating or sleeping in summer. This small lobby is called Dahlanz. From dahlanz a door leads to the main room.

Entrance



The main entrance door has a symbolic importance. The house itself is the symbol of universe. A door is the entry to the house as well exit from the house. The door separates two distinct areas, inside the door there is safety, security and blessing. Out side the door there is open world, opportunities, dangers and risks. When a new member of the family (a bride or a new baby) enters the door he/she is welcomed with prayers for good luck, good health and blessings. Similarly when a family member goes on a journey or goes out to start something new he /she goes out through the door with the prayers of his parents for his safety and success. In the ancient houses the traditional lock ( Naghli, Sarikuch, chayeish) was made of a wooden bar, which could lock the door both from inside and out side.

The doors of traditional houses are relatively shorter to preserve heat. Woodcarving is found on the doors of the old houses.




Pillars
The structure of traditional house basically stands on four main wooden pillars plus one to three additional small pillars. These pillars are made of juniper, apricot, walnut or other locally available wood. These pillars are often covered by geometric patterned woodcarvings. The traditional geometric designs on these pillars are inherited over centuries. Because of its unique wooden frame the house is earthquake resistant. If even the walls were peeled outward during an earth quack the frame would remain standing, protecting the main structure.

Roof



The roof is made of several groups of wooden beams of different sizes. Each group has their specific sizes and specific names and number. The two longest beams (laid over the two main pillars on each side are called sanjeer in some areas. Three to four thick but short beams ( patari)are laid diagonally on the main long beams. The skylight or the open space in center of the roof is designed with four square layers of small beams laid one above other. The squares are diagonally placed and the size of squares gradually decreases as it rises up towards the final opening. The opening is located exactly above the fireplace. Because of this shape of the roof snow does not stay longer on the rooftop and there is less chances of leakage during rainy season.

Floor



Every single area inside the main room has a specific name. If you name a specific part of the house, a local will know exactly what are you referring to. There are slight variations in the design in different regions but overall it is more or less similar.

The floor is divided into different parts, There are raised platforms of different heights. Every platform has different purpose and use. The first part immediately after entrance is the (Haqai, yourch, shom ). It is used for keeping shoes and preparing fire wood and dancing during traditional ceremonies like weddings. In most of incient houses, a wood beam, called, sanj separate the working area from the sitting area. The next is the sitting area. In the center there is fire place ( dildang, Daang, sagam ) . Fireplace is used for cooking and keeping the room warm. Sitting area on right side is called band. The sittiing area is a square area around the fire place. The Males members sit on the right side. Sitting arrangement is in specific order. The guest, elderly or religious leaders people get the priority to sit. These most respected people sits fist than the young one sit and than the children sit. Female sit on the left. Similar hierarchy rule is also followed on the female side of the sitting area. Two elevated platforms on right and left (Sheeti, mun, nukh ,raj thali) were used for relaxing or sleeping during winter. There is narrow platform for with wooden cabinets for pots and pans. Two half height walls or wooden cabinets separates the right and left elevated platform. These walls are called Chardagez or Mandal . The floor is usually made of wood or mud. Floors are covered with thick locally made carpets. Concrete floor does not suite the climatic conditions and local life style. It cannot maintain the warm temperature and can cause joint pain in cold climate.

Storage room (Ulha, Gonj ,Gonji , Ghanz )

A smaller store room is usually attached to the main traditional home. The basic structure as more or less same like the main room but it is usually less sophisticated. The main purpose of this is to store grain, fruits and other food items, but during wedding and other ceremonies it was used for sitting and cooking also. This room also has four pillars and the structure of the roof is similar to the main room. There is area for fireplace in the center.

The main room and storage room are the basic requirements of the traditional home. Additional rooms are added according to the requirement and socioeconomic conditions.
Traditional houses in Baltistan

The old houses in various mountainous regions of Baltistan are designed according to local requirements and traditions.. There is Tibetan and Kashmiri influence in the architecture of this region. Old houses in mountainous villages of Baltistan are built in two levels. The lower level is for storage or animal pen. The living area is built in the upper level comprises of large kitchen, bed room, living room etc. The numbers of rooms depends on various factors, like socioeconomic factor, number of family members etc. Wood, stone and mud are used to build these houses. Large wood columns and beams are used to make the house earthquake proof. Kashmiri style wood carving is found in these old traditional houses.

In summary the design of traditional houses is very efficient and multipurpose to fulfill the traditional and climatic requirements of the area. This tradition has been passed to us over centuries. Now it is the duty of this generation not completely abandon this tradition. These designs can be innovated and updated according to need of modern time.

Source: https://defence.pk/threads/the-ener...ses-in-gilgit-baltistan.450307/#ixzz4KmsAWe00
 
Inside-the-Pamir-House-4.jpg


The Pamiri house is a single large room, with compartments and elevated portions used for different purposes and occasions. The exquisitely and colorfully decorated house, with carpeted walls, are a delight for the eyes. Elements of faith have been embedded in the architecture, structure, of the house; the five pillars denote the Panjutan (five members of the prophet’s (PBUH) family. There are many similarities in the houses built in different parts of the Giglit-Baltistan and Chitral regions, and the ones in Badakhshan region of Tajikistan, shown in the photographs below. A very prominent feature of the Pamiri houses is the central roof-opening, used for ventilation and letting the light in.

Inside-the-Pamir-House-5.jpg


The entrance/exit
Inside-the-Pamir-House-7.jpg

The sitting area
Inside-the-Pamir-House-3.jpg

Different compartments inside the house
Inside-the-Pamir-House-9.jpg


Different utensils and photographs depicting the region’s history at display


Inside-the-Pamir-House-11.jpg


Handicrafts
Inside-the-Pamir-House-10.jpg

A man dressed in the traditional winter Pamiri attire

Inside-the-Pamir-House-1.jpg

Exterior view of the house that is also being used a museum

Inside views of a Pamiri House | PAMIR TIMES | Voices of the Mountain Communities
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This is what almost all houses in Gilgit look like, the roof is exactly the same. Go in Hunza, Ghizer, this is just so refreshing to see, so homely for me. The designing on the walls is usually the same and they have a hole in the roof, as they install a, 'chula', or you can say a heater. Good to see, thought i'd share.
@Mr.Meap ,@Slav Defence ,@HRK ,@unleashed ,@PARIKRAMA ,@Levina ,@krash ,@Color_Less_Sky ,@Ammara Chaudhry ,@Zibago ,@Daneshmand ,@Gufi ,@Shah01 ,@The Eagle ,@anant_s ......

The person in the 7th picture I know him his name is adenamohammad he came to Pakistan valley last year to attend a conference in passu gojal Pakistan on sustainable development of wakhi people
http://pamirtimes.net/2015/08/29/sy...opment-of-wakhi-people-starts-in-passu-gojal/
He has build a self funded museum in Tajikistan (i think shown in the picture) and is a very scholarly person​
 

Latest posts

Pakistan Affairs Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom