Architecture - Iran - page 601

What Makes Persian Architecture Unique?
The defining aspects of Persian architecture are its monumental simplicity and its lavish
use of surface ornamentation and colour. The ground plans of ordinary Persian buildings
mix only a few standard elements: a courtyard and arcades, lofty entrance porticoes and
four iwan (barrel-vaulted halls opening onto the courtyard).
Typical Persian mosque design consists of a dome above an entrance iwan that leads in-
to a large courtyard surrounded by arched cloisters. Behind these are four inner iwan, one
of them featuring a decorated niche indicating the direction of Mecca. In the Islamic
world in general this is usually called a mihrab although in Iran this term is also used to
refer to the cut-out space in the ground in front of it. Many commentators believe the four-
iwan design can be traced to old Zoroastrian ideas about the four elements and the circula-
tion of life.

These basic features are often so densely
covered with decoration that observers are led
to imagine the architecture is far more complex
than it actually is. The decorations are nor-
mally geometric, floral or calligraphic. A
wall's decoration sometimes consists of noth-
ing but mosaics forming the names of Allah,
Mohammed and Ali, repeated countless times in highly stylised script.

Many mosques occupy sites that were once home to
Zoroastrian fire temples. When Islam arrived and
religious preferences changed, so too did the use
and decor of the local place of worship.

Tiles
The tiled domes of Iranian mosques, reminiscent of Fabergé eggs in the vividness of their
colouring, are likely to remain one of your abiding memories of Iran.

QUIRKS OF PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE

All along the great trade routes from east to west caravanserais (an inn or way-station for camel trains, usually con-
sisting of rooms arranged around a courtyard) were set up to facilitate trade. Although the earliest caravanserais date
to Seljuk times, many of those surviving date from the reign of Shah Abbas I who was credited with establishing a
network of 999 such structures; Caravanserai Zein-o-din ( Click here ) is a fine restored example. Caravanserais were
built either at regular points along trading routes (roughly every 30km, a day's camel ride), or beside the bazaar in
towns and cities. It's easy to see this arrangement in Esfahan ( Click here ) and Kerman ( Click here ) , in particular.

In the hot southern deserts you will see the remains of yakh dans (mud-brick ice houses) built to store ice through
the summer. Water, often from a qanat (underground water channel or canal; Click here ), was left outside to freeze