Gonbad Kavus
It is the capital of Gonbad Kavus County, in the province of Golestān in the northeast of Iran.
In the historical times, the city’s populations were made up of various Iranic peoples such as the ancient and eponymous Hyrcanians,Parthians and eventually the Khurasani Persians.
Today, however, there are no reliable figures for the ethnic make of the city.
However, it is agreed that the city has a plurality of its inhabitants being ethnic Turkmen, Turkmen who speak a western Turkmen language.
The remaining population are made Khorasani Turks, Sistanis, Baluch , Mazandaranis as well as Persians and other smaller Iranic peoples.
The city is famous for its historic brick tower of the same name.
Iranian footballer Sardar Azmoun is from this city.
The 53m Unesco listed Mile Gonbad tower is the unmissable attraction of what is otherwise a faceless,it is forgettable urban sprawl famous for Turkmen horse racing and a nationally prominent volleyball team.
The tower, which looks like a buttressed brick spaceship with the crosssection of a 10 pointed star. it is so remarkably well preserved that one can scarcely believe it’s a hundred years old, let alone over a thousand.
Paying the entrance fee means you can listen to echoes in the bare interior and,even more spookily from the marked circular spot some 40 paces in front of the tower.
Back in 1006 when the tower was built, this was the thriving city of Gorgan.
It was utterly obliterated by the 13th century rampages of the Mongols,though, and the only other remains of ancient Jorjan visible today are lumpy excavations behind the huge,ornate Imamzadeh Yahya (Imamzadeh Blvd), 4km southwest of central Gonbade Kavus.