Stunning Iran, amazing iwan, the Persian in designer’s eye
My friends were very surprised at my plan to visit the the country by the Persian Gulf-Iran, now let me introduce Iran and Iraq the countries with similar names .
Iraq, Syria, Saudi, UAE are Arabian countries. The region is also the birthplace of the vicious ISIS. Arabic is the main language and Sunni Muslim is the main religion in Arabian countries.
Most Iranian are Persians, and they speak Persian. They believe that they are the descendants of Aryans.The country’s name Persia was changed into Iran in 1935. Even though there’s no terror war like Syria and Iraq, the economic and cultural development are heavily constrained, and the currency is devalued under the economic sanctions of the United States.
Persian History
In retrospect of the Persian history, the civilization was born before 4000 BC and the two highly developed countries Elan and Mid had been founded successively. 550BC, about the Spring and Autumn period in ancient China, Darius I found the first Persian Empire — — Archimenid Empire. The ancient Persian Empire believed in Zoroastrianism, holding that the god of fire could guide the people to the light. In 642AD, Arab invaded, the Persian were forced to believed the Islamism. But they have chosen the small branch purposely — — Shiism. Persians emphasize their culture heritage during the “incorporation of Islamism.
Persian Architecture
Architecture is often regarded as one of the greatest contributions of Persian culture to the world. Persian architecture is unique in its extremely concise structure and the comprehensive application of complex and orderly graphics and abundant colors of the surface decorations the building. (Persian architecture is unique in that its structure is extremely concise and the surface decoration of the building uses complex and ordered graphics and a large number of colors.) A most typical Persian yard includes is courtyard, arcade, high porch at the entrance and 4 iwans. The design of 4 iwans dates back to the “Four elements” and “the circle of life” of ancient Zoroastrianism’s belief.
Iwan
The iwan that I saw in the trip is a rectangular hall with a dome facing the courtyard, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. It is usually decorated with calligraphy, glazed tilework, and geometric designs. The overall forms vary greatly in terms of scale, material, or decoration according to the whole building. Iwans is not limited to some practical functions. It is used not only in religious buildings, but also the public and residential ones. Iwan is most commonly associated with Islamic architecture; however, the form is Persian in origin. It was created much earlier and fully developed in Mesopotamia around the 3rd century BC. It was the architectural feature of the Persian Parthian dynasty and continued to exist in the later Sasanian dynasty.
The Arabs were stunned at the Persian glittering culture of architecture, medicine, literature and art of thousand years old. Instead of architecture damaging, they kept the Persian style, incorporated to great extent the Sasanian style, and blended some Islamic element in it. With Sasanian and Arab elements, the new Islamic building of distinctive Persian style occurred. As an exclusive form of basic building unit, iwan was used through out the architecture after the 7th century and get the better development in Seljuk dynasty and Timur dynasty.
We can see the iwan manifesting itself in the elegant geometric style of Seljuk period(1051～1220) and the stalactite style of Mongolia period(1220~1335) in the Jameh Mosque of Esfahan which represents half of th Islamic world’s architectures.
After a series of enlightened rule, Islamic architectural style of Persian reached the peak in Safavid dynasty. Traveling to the northeast, in the holy city Mashhad, we were impressed by the religious power and the Safavid dynasty iwan which have more gorgeous colors, more elegant patterns of decoration like some Baroque style.
After the golden age of Safavid dynasty, it is Qajar dynasty(1795~1925). In the mid of 19th century, the western architecture quietly infiltrated Iran. The Persian architecture style of that period is thought to be worse than before, but some building such as the traditional residence in Kashan are good.
Influence
Iwan influences the architectures not only in Iran, but also in the rest par of the whole Islamic world, even in the middle Asia. For example we can see the microcosm of iwan in the India’s Taj Mahal, a typical Persian-style building, whose chief designer is said to come from Persia.
