Karaftu Cave

Undoubtedly, Karaftu Cave is one of the most attractive ancient Iranians tourist sites created with no electric tools and only with hand instruments. The cave is a natural limestone cave which likely formed during the Tertiary geological era.

Karaftu cave has a special reputation among the caves in all around the world, because of the changes, transformation and manipulation in the Karafu cave and creating the nested spaces for rooms, hallways and corridors through it during human habitation in this place in the past. The cave is unique in terms of building form.

Karaftu rocky cave has a four-story architecture at the heart of the mountain. There is a Greek inscription on the entrance of one room in the third floor it is why the cave is called Heracles Temple (Hercules). The height of the cave entrance (the current entrance) from the hills was about 20 to 25 m and it had a rather difficult way on the back of the mountain. Karaftu cave was under water in the Mesozoic era and it came out of water at the end of this period. There is still some water in the cave that one should use small boats to see some parts of it. The images and shapes painted inside the cave are the existing sights of this ancient monuments.