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Introduction
Based on the rapid spread of financial transaction, cultural relationships, and scientific
communications among the countries in the whole world, someone who has not
learned another language except their mother tongue is considered to be “academically
illiterate.”
Taking into account this tenet, Sadr Institute of higher Education intends to familiarize
readers with English texts in order to expand their English knowledge in each issue of
this magazine named “For Tomorrow”.
Sadr Institute of Higher Education
English & Non-English Intensive courses, IELTS & TOEFL Department
Isfahan
the Pearl of Islam World
I
sfahan had already been the capital of
Iran in the 11th and 12th centuries under the Seljuks, and many buildings from
that period survive in the north of the city.
As part of his city planning program, Abbas
relocated the commercial, religious, and
political center of the city south-south west
toward the Zayande River. The heart of the
new city was the large rectangular maidan
(1700x520 feet 512x159 meters), known
as Naqsh-i-Jahan (Design of the world).
Conceived, planned, and constructed
between 1590 and 1595 the new public
square was originally intended for state
ceremonies and sport. In a second phase
completed by 1602, the Maidan was redeveloped for commercial purposes. Two
stories of shops were added around the
perimeter and let at low rents to persuade
reluctant merchants to relocate from premises in the old city center.
The maidan was the feature of the new
city that most impressed foreign travelers.
Covering 20 acres (8 hectares), it was far
larger than contemporary plazas in Europe.
The bazaar portal
The entrances to four buildings
are set around the Maidan, rather like
four-iwan plan writ large. On the north site,
the majestic portal to the bazaar consisting of a high iwan flanked by two stories
of vaulted galleries, which housed the
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Naqqarakhana, or music pavilion, where
a court orchestra played daily on trumpets
and drums. The decoration on the portal
reflects Abbas’ preoccupations in founding
the new city. The spandrels of the iwan are
covered with tile mosaic depicting Sagittarius, under whose astrological sign Isfahan
was founded, set on a ground of floral arabesques. The interior faces of the iwan
have faded frescoes showing Abbas’ victories over the Shaybanids.
The portal leads to a two-storied bazaar,
the Qaisariya, the selling place for fine
textiles, which were the mainstay of the
Safavid economy. Behind the portal lay a
domed node, known in Persian as Chaharsu (“four directions,” or “four bazaars”).
To the east lay the royal mint; to the west,
the royal caravanserai, with 140 rooms,
was the largest in the city. It had space for
cloth merchants on the ground floor, and
workshops and stores for jewelers, goldsmiths, and engravers above. To the north
and east, a grid of lanes intersecting under
domed spaces led to more caravanserais,
baths, and a hospital. The covered bazaar
stretched for over a mile (nearly 2 kilometers), linking the new Maidan with the old
one near the Friday Mosque.
The Lutfallah Mosque
Soon after the Maidan was completed, Abbas ordered a new building
erected on the east side. The Lutfallah
Mosque, which is dated by an inscription
from 1603-1619, takes its name from
Sheikh Lutfallah Maisi al-Amili, the distinguished scholar and teacher who came
to Isfahan at Abbas’ request and took up
residence on the site; the mosque was
only named after him later, after his death
in 1622/23. In plan, the mosque comprises
a single domed room 63 feet (19 meters)
each side. The basement contains another
room of almost the same dimensions covered with low vaults resting on four octagonal piers. Since it contains a Mihrab, the
domed room is aligned with the Qibla and
set at an angle approximately 45 degrees
from that of the main facade. When viewed
from the maidan, the dome is to the right of
the main portal. The exterior is covered in
a spiraling arabesque set against and unusual tan ground.
The portal of the Lutfallah Mosque gives
access to a corridor around two sides of
the sanctuary, so that one enters the main
room opposite the Mihrab. Emerging from
such a dark, twisting corridor, the interior
of the mosque is a huge contrast, for the
vast, glowing room is probably the most
perfectly balanced interior in all Persian architecture. In elevation, the room consists
of the standard tripartite arrangement of
square base, octagonal zone of transition,
and dome, but the two lower stories have
been integrated by arches outlined with a
cable binding executed in light blue tile and
a magnificent inscription band in white on
a dark blue ground. The only other example of such vertical integration is the north
dome added to the Friday mosque in Isfahan in 1088, and Safavid architects may
have taken their cues from their Seljuk predecessors. As in the earlier example, the
dome of Lutfallah Mosque is single shell,
one of the very little in Safavid architecture.