City underneath rivers

Shushtar is famous for its great engineering works constructed in ancient times for the disposal and use of the waters of the Karun River. Shushtar’s little plateau sits between the main arm of the Karun and an artificial channel more than 100 feet (30 m) deep, and the city itself is crossed by small canals that use the Karun’s water. But the most impressive works are three large dams built by Romans to regulate the river and the artificial channel’s flow and maintain water levels for irrigation. The greatest of these dams, the Band-e Qeysar (Dam of Caesar), was originally 1,800 feet (550 m) long and supported on its numerous arches Valerian’s Bridge. To prevent erosion of the riverbed above the dam, the bed was paved with huge stone slabs bound together with iron. The monumental dam was regarded by later Arab conquerors as one of the wonders of the world.

Valerian’s bridge

Valerian’s bridge, the largest dambridge, 165 meters long, is approximately at the exit of Shushtar. It now has only twenty-eight arches on the left bank and seven on the right bank. It was built of carefully bounded stones bound together with cement. To prevent erosion by the rough waters before the dam, the river bed was paved with large stone slabs together with cement.

Caesar Weir

Caesar Weir has nine outlet gates on the body of the weir and one in the right side. The altitude of the gates from the river bed are different and the bottom outlet gate is located in left side. The max. discharge into Gargaros Canal is 406 m3/sec and the annual discharge is about 51 m3/sec. This weir is still under operation.

Gargaros Weir and Shushtar Watermills

Gargaros Weir and Shushtar Watermills are located 600 m. downstream of Caesar Weir. The crest is 50 m. long, with an altitude of 20 m. This weir doesn’t have any gates or water intake. The water passes through the tunnels which have been excavated at the upper part of the mountains at the both sides.

Watermill

The number of these tunnels are three which have been excavated through the rocks. The longest one is 100 m. These tunnels after passing through the weir are divided into some branches which led water to the inclined shoots of more than 50 watermills. The elevation difference between upstream and downstream created beautiful water falls in front of the weir. Those waterfalls cause Shushtar to become a beautiful sight seeing for tourists. The ex-general secretary of UNESCO highly appreciated during his first visit to those watermills and called them as the first man-made industrial complex before industrial revolution.

Waterfalls and watermills in Shushtar

There are 2 tunnels excavated under the Salasel Castle, almost 300m. to Shushtar Weir. These Tunnels after hundred meters downstream join together and become as the Darion open Canal. This canal on its way towards south west of Shushtar is divided into two branches. The first branch after 33 km.

Darion canal

Darion Canal is older than the other historical water structures which were constructed in Shushtar during by Romans.All the evidences show the water intake procedure of the Darion Canal operated by an old dam before Caesar Dam-Bridge establishment.

Roman pleasure grounds