In the historic Joubareh Neighbourhood, a Seljuk minaret is visible from afar, which is leaning a little.
There is a story popular among the people, which says:
During the construction of the minaret, an old woman passed by it. Workers were busy building the minaret. The old woman narrowed her eyes and looked at the minaret a few times and finally said to the architect: “This is tilted!”
The architect _ who was specially shrewd and witty and, on the other hand, was afraid that the old woman would spread in the city the rumour that the minaret being built is tilted _ pretended to agree with her and spuriously pushed the minaret to the other side and then asked the old woman: “Is it OK now?”
After pushing the minaret in various directions for a little while, the old woman finally becomes satisfied that the minaret is now straight and leaves.
It is said that there was a mosque beside this minaret in the past, but it does not exist any more.
Beneath the minaret, there was an empty space, which was used as a basement. But in 1945 AD (1324 SH), this empty space was filled and blocked completely.
There are different opinions about why the minaret is leaning. It seems that, after the construction was finished, the foundations of the building seated asymmetrically, causing the minaret to tilt about eight degrees in the south-east direction.
This asymmetrical settling of the foundations was probably due to disruptions beneath the building or because of changes in the aquifer or even because of the usage of wells in the houses located next to the minaret.
The word “sarban” in Persian means “a person responsible for the camels or a guardian of the camels and of the caravans.”
Since the Sarban Minaret was a tall and outstanding structure, which was easily seen from most areas inside and outside the city, it seems that its main usage was as a guidance for the caravans in order to help them reach the city centre. And because of this, it was called the Sarban Minaret.
In recent years, because of its leaning structure, the minaret has become famous among the tourists as Isfahan’s Tower of Pisa!
