The Cultural Tutor Profile picture
Jun 26, 2023 24 tweets 14 min read Read on X
Iran has some of the world's most ancient, important, and beautiful architecture.

So here is a very brief introduction, from ziggurats and Zoroastrian fire temples to crystal mosques and the first ever churches...





This is Shahr-e Sukhteh, a city inhabited as far back as 3,500 BC, at the dawn of human civilisation.

In about 3,000 BC it was destroyed by fire — hence its name, which means "The Burned City".

Though it did recover and continue to flourish for another thousand years.

And here is Chogha Zanbil, a ziggurat built by the Elamites in about 1,200 BC.

It isn't far from Susa, an ancient city which played an important role in the history of Mesopotamia, ever in competition with the great cities of the Sumerians and the Akkadians.
This is the tomb of Cyrus the Great, built in about 530 BC, in Fars Province.

Who was Cyrus? The founder of the Achaemenid or Persian Empire, which stretched all the way from India to Greece.

He was one of history's greatest ever and most influential leaders.
Arg-e Bam is the name of this vast complex of houses and fortifications, for many centuries a place of great military and commercial importance.

Although it dates back to the Achaemenids, with origins in the 5th century BC, it was occupied right through to the 20th century.
Perhaps Iran's greatest archaeological site is Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, once a glorious palace-city, filled with innumerable treasures and lavish architecture.

It was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.
The Sassanians ruled Iran from the 3rd to the 7th centuries AD.

Like the other great Iranian empires they succeeded, the Sassanians were Zoroastrian — one of the world's oldest religions.

Ancient Zoroastrian fire temples are scattered throughout the Iranian landscape...





In 651 the Sassanians fell to Islamic conquest; first came the Rashidun Caliphate, then the Umayyads, and then the Abbasids.

Under the Ziyarid Dynasty, which had revolted against the Abbasids in Iran, the huge Gonbad-e Qabus (a tomb for the ruler Qabus) was built in 1007 AD.
But by the mid-11th century the Seljuks had taken power in Iran and far beyond, creating a fused Turco-Persian-Islamic culture.

These mausoleums, called the Kharraqan Towers, were built under the Seljuks, featuring plenty of the abstract decoration so important in Islamic art.

The Jameh Mosque of Isfahan, though founded in 771 by the Abbasids, has been modified time and time again down the centuries — it belongs to no single era, but to all of Iran's many dynasties.

Among its jewels is the 14th century mihrab, covered in ornate stucco calligraphy.



Iran is also home to some extraordinary Armenian architecture in its West and East Azerbaijan Provinces.

This is the Chapel of Dzordzor, with the famous conical spire of Armenian architecture; not the largest of Armenian monasteries in Iran, but perhaps the most evocative.
And here is the Monastery of Saint Thaddeus, believed to be one of the world's oldest churches, dating back to the 3rd century AD.

After all, Armenia was the first country to ever adopt Christianity as its official state religion.
The Mongol Invasions of the 13th century reshaped Iranian history; first it was the Ilkhanids and then the Timurids who held power.

It was the Timurids who built the Amir Chakhmaq Complex in Yazd in the 1400s. Here is its mosque, with striking triple-tiered alcoves.
The Bazaar of Tabriz, which was the capital city under the Ilkhanids, is one of the world's largest covered markets.

Tabriz lay on the Silk Road and it flourished as a site of trade, travel, and pilgrimage. Marco Polo even visited this huge and ancient trading hub.

In the 16th century the Safavid Dynasty came to power.

Abbas, perhaps Iran's foremost ruler, moved the capital to Isfahan and commenced one of history's greatest public architectural projects.

The Naqsh-e Jahan Square was the world's largest city square upon completion.
In Isfahan the Safavids built squares, bridges, roads, gardens, schools, baths, and mosques.

Just off Naqsh-e Jahan Square are the exquisite Shah Mosque and Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, resplendent with their blue tilework, both masterpieces of Safavid architecture.





Abbas also had the Allahverdi Khan Bridge built, often known as Si-o-se-pol.

Finished in 1602, this rather beautiful structure was a bridge, dam, and gathering place in equal measure; a masterstroke of engineering and civic architecture united.
Then there's Agha Bozorg Mosque in Kashan. It was built under the Qajars, who had taken over from the Zand Dynasty and ruled Iran from 1789 to 1925.

Its brilliant architect, Ustad Haj Sa'ban-ali, introduced an elevated walkway into the typical Iranian mosque layout.
Of course, Iran is also home to some of the world's oldest and most wonderful vernacular architecture.

Nowhere better expressed than in the village of Kandovan, in East Azerbaijan Province, where houses have been carved into some rather unusual volcanic rocks.



The Qajars built a great many palaces and mosques and gardens, all of them lavishly, but nothing perhaps more exquisite than the Nasir ol-Molk, or Pink Mosque, in Shiraz.

A sensory delight of technicolour light, mesmeric tilework, and geometric, kaleidoscopic splendour.





Then again, it was under the Qajars that the Shahcheragh Shrine was restored.

It had originally been decorated with glass and mirrors in the 14th century, but these had fallen into disrepair.

In the 19th century this shrine was restored to its former glory.



Iran also has plenty of remarkable modern architecture.

Radio City Cinema (built in 1958 and closed down after the revolution in 1979), and the Senate House, both in Tehran, were designed by Heydar Ghiai, one of Iran's great modern architects.

And, to end, here is the award-winning Tabiat Bridge in Tehran, built in 2014 and designed by Leila Araghian.
More might have been mentioned: the blue dome of Solteniyeh, the gardens of Qavam House, the Imam Reza Shrine....

Alas, this was but a whistle-stop tour through the extraordinary 5,000 year old history of Iranian architecture.





• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Cultural Tutor

The Cultural Tutor Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @culturaltutor

Apr 27
It took 8 architects, 21 popes, and 120 years to build and finish St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

And, four centuries later, it's still the largest church in the world.

So here's a brief introduction to St Peter's... Image
The first impression anybody has when they see St Peter's Basilica in Rome, in real life or in a photo, is awe.

Because this is an immensely impressive building — it was and remains the world's largest church by volume.

Others are taller, but none are so vast. Image
The same is true of the inside — a cornucopia of art and architecture, of gold and bronze and marble and mosaic and sculpture.

And, again, it has proportions beyond gargantuan.

The baldachin alone (a kind of ornate canopy, below) is 30 metres tall. Image
Read 25 tweets
Apr 22
The Sistine Chapel is one of the world's greatest buildings, and it has the most famous ceiling in history.

But what is it, who built it, and what does "Sistine" even mean?

Well, here's the surprisingly controversial history of the Sistine Chapel... Image
Where did the Sistine Chapel get its name?

It was commissioned in 1473 by Pope Sixtus IV and completed nine years later.

His name in Italian was Sisto and the chapel was named after him, hence "Sistine" Chapel. Image
Where is the Sistine Chapel?

It's within the Apostolic Palace — the Pope's official residence — in the Vatican City.

But, for such a famous and important building, it isn't very noteworthy or impressive from the outside. Image
Read 25 tweets
Apr 18
This is Burg Hohenzollern in Germany, one of the world's most beautiful Medieval castles.

Except that it isn't a Medieval castle — trains had been invented before it was built.

And so Hohenzollern is a perfect introduction to Neo-Gothic Architecture... Image
If you want to understand Neo-Gothic Architecture then the best place to begin is with something like Hohenzollern.

It seems too good to be true — and that's because it is.

What you're looking at here isn't a Medieval castle; it's not even 200 years old. Image
There has been some kind of fortification on this hill, at the edge of the Swabian Alps, for over one thousand years.

An 11th century castle was destroyed and replaced in the 15th century, but that second castle soon fell into ruin. Image
Read 24 tweets
Apr 14
This painting has no brush strokes — it is made from over 2,000,000 individual dots of colour.

And although it looks like nothing more than a sunny afternoon in Paris, it has a much darker hidden meaning... Image
In the 1870s the Impressionists, led by Claude Monet, burst onto the French art scene.

Rather than painting classical themes in studios according to the principles of the Renaissance, as they had been taught in the Academy, the Impressionists took art outside... Image
And there they painted the world as they actually saw it, with all the changing light, shadow, blur, and movement of real life — rather than how they were "supposed" to see it.

And instead of the grand subjects of Academic art, they painted scenes from ordinary life. Image
Read 23 tweets
Apr 5
This is the Queen's Stepwell in Gujarat, India, built nearly 1,000 years ago.

It's incredible, but it isn't unique — India is filled with hundreds of stepwells just like it.

Here is the story of the world's most extraordinary underground architecture... Image
Water management was (and remains) one of the biggest challenges for any society.

When you have a large group of people living in one place you need to provide water for drinking, bathing, washing, irrigation, and more.

The only question is... how?
In India, between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD, a very special way of managing water emerged: stepwells, known variously as baoli, bawri, or vav.

They were a solution to the problem of water supply in regions without consistent rainfall. Image
Read 19 tweets
Mar 31
The Eiffel Tower was completed 136 years ago today.

It's now a global symbol of France and over 7 million tourists visit it every year.

But people hated the Eiffel Tower at first — they called it humiliating, modern, and "too American"... Image
The Eiffel Tower was started in 1887 and finished two years later, on 31 March 1889.

This was an unprecedented structure and a challenge to engineering unlike anything attempted before.

Upon completion it was 300 metres tall and immediately became the world's tallest building. Image
No structure in history had ever been more than 200 metres tall, let alone 300, and the Eiffel Tower's record wasn't overtaken until the Chrysler Building was finished in 1930.

It still dominates the skyline of Paris nearly a century and a half later. Image
Read 25 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(