| Official Name: | Masuleh |
| Native Name: | fa|ماسوله |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Pushpin Map: | Iran |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Iran |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Gilan |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Type3: | District |
| Subdivision Name3: | Sardar-e Jangal |
| Population As Of: | 2016 |
| Population Total: | 393 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | IRST |
| Utc Offset: | +3:30 |
| Coordinates: | 37.155°N 48.9894°W |
| Coordinates Footnotes: | [1] |
Masuleh (fa|ماسوله;) is a city in Sardar-e Jangal District of Fuman County, Gilan province, Iran.
Masuleh is approximately 60 km southwest of Rasht and 32 km west of Fuman. Its people are Talysh. The village is 1,050 meters above sea level in the Alborz mountain range, near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The village itself has a difference in elevation of 100 meters.
Although some say the community was established around 10 AD, Old Masuleh dates to 1006 AD, 6 km northwest of the current city (Kohneh Masuleh in Persian). People moved from Old Masuleh to the new site because of pestilence and attacks from neighbouring communities.
The native people of Masuleh speak Talysh.
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 554 in 180 households.[2] The following census in 2011 counted 568 people in 210 households.[3] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 393 people in 147 households.[4]
Buildings are mostly two stories (1st floor and 'ground' floor), although there are three-story and four-story houses as well.
There are four main local communities at the city named: "Maza-var" (meaning beside the Mosque) at the south, "Khana-var" (beside homes) at the East, "Kasha-sar" (stretched on top) at the North, and, "Assa-mahala" (Assad community) at the West. Apparently, down town is the Market (Bazaar) area and also the main mosque of the city, named "O-ne-ben-ne Ali" (Awn Ibn Mohammad Ibn Ali Ibn. Abi Taleb) built in 969 AD.[5]
In some of these houses, it has been possible to live in separate apartments in different periods. For example, the Zandipour House, which is now used as an apartment hotel, was accommodated by different families who lived in their separate apartment units for a long time. Each of these units had a separate bathroom and different families lived separately in each of the three floors. However, some three-story houses were occupied by an extended family as the children who were married lived together with their parents in a class structural house.
Girih tiling consists of straight and broken lines on a regular basis that could be reasonably expanded in the surface.[6]
The historical city of Masuleh is a good model for sustainable architecture and its final aim is respecting the culture and friendly relationship with nature and improving the life style of its residents.[7]
Archaeological survey of the mountain ranges overlooking Masouleh shows that this mountainous region was probably occupied by ancient herders and nomads at least since the late Bronze Age.[8]
Remains of late prehistoric, historic, and Islamic times were discovered on the mountain top above 2500 meters above sea level(See). These mountains were used seasonally, at least since the late Neolithic (5000 BC) Bronze Age (2000-1500 BC), which continued during the Iron Age I (1500-1100 BC), Iron Age III (800-500 BC), Parthian (247 BC to 224 CE), Buyid (943–1029 CE), Seljuk (1043–1051 CE) and Ilkhanid (1306–1335 CE) periods(tehrantimes).
Archaeologists discovered pottery sherds, animal bones, and stone tools that date back to about 7,000 years ago. [9]
Waterfalls: Kooshm, Larcheshme, and Kourbar.[10]
13. Pourali Mostafa and Mansour Falamaki 2015. Understanding Territories, Case Study: MASOULEH, in kashan University press, http://jias.kashanu.ac.ir