Towers of Silence of Yazd

On the desert hills at the edge of Yazd stand two circular stone enclosures once used by the Zoroastrian community as places of excarnation, where the dead were exposed to the elements and birds rather than buried or cremated. Known as towers of silence, the roofless drums crown two low hills, with ritual buildings and cisterns clustered at their base. The practice was discontinued in the twentieth century. Visitors can climb to the towers, look out over the surrounding desert, and view a striking relic of ancient funerary custom.