Video of tiny doorways in Iran's Makhunik village, where visitors must stoop to enter, goes viral

Iran's Makhunik village is drawing much attention on social media these days. Also known as the "Lilliput village", it owes the attention to the extremely small doors of its old houses, which are only three to three and a half feet high. Tall people have to stoop to go through them.

The buzz began with a video by an Indian travel vlogger, Ashish, who visited the village and posted the footage on social media, where it went viral. In the video Ashish is seen walking around Makhunik, accompanied by a woman. Both have to bend and squeeze down to get inside the houses. Many people are astonished at the doors, which are three to three and a half feet high.

The video says people of the village's earlier generations were about three feet tall on average, so the houses were built to suit their needs. However, it would not be right to assume that every man in the village was three feet tall.

Makhunik is said to be about 1,500 years old. It lies in Iran's South Khorasan province, near the border with Afghanistan. Because of the village's geography, limited resources and traditional way of life, its people lived differently from those in other areas.

The diet of people in the area was once very plain, and they subsisted on a few items such as turnip, barley and dates. Long-term malnutrition and a limited diet are considered possible reasons for the shorter stature of earlier generations. The tradition of marrying within close communities is also cited as a possible factor.

Conditions in the village have changed over time. Better roads, transport and availability of food have made a big difference to people's lifestyle. Improved nutrition and health have also affected the physical growth of the new generation. Most people in the village are now of normal height.

Even so, the village's old history and traditional construction survive. Of the village's roughly 200 houses, 70 to 80 old mud houses are said to still stand. The small doors and distinctive design of these houses are drawing tourists.

After Ashish's video, people have compared the village with the fictional land of Lilliput in "Gulliver's Travels". Some said they wanted to add the village to their travel list, while others asked how people could have lived in houses with such small doors.