As long as registered in history, Yazd was known as a trading post. Marco Polo described Yazd as 'a very fine and splendid city and a center of commerce'.

During the invasion of Genghis Khan, Yazd had remained largely immune to large battles and the destruction of war. Because it was a desert city and approaching it was difficult for army.

Yazd is very important in Persian architecture. As the climate is very arid and hot, it has one of the largest networks of qanats in the world. In order to deal with the extremely hot summers, they had to make houses with special architecture that held cool weather inside and don’t allow hot weather to penetrate. Also; Yazd is home to prime examples of yakhchals that were used to store ice retrieved from glaciers in the nearby mountains.

Yazd's heritage as a center of Zoroastrianism is also important. Tower of Silence and Fire Temple, which holds a fire that has been kept alight continuously since 470 AD are two important sites of Zoroastrian in Iran.