Naghsh-e Jahan Square (
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
: ميدان نقش جهان
maidaan-e naqsh-e jehaan; trans: "Image of the World Square"), officially known as
Imam Square (میدان امام), formerly known as
Shah Square (میدان شاه), situated at the
center of
IsfahanIsfahan or Esfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan or Hispahan, is located about 340 km south of Tehran and is the capital of Isfahan Province and Iran's third largest city...
city,
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
. It is an important historical site and one of
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
's World Heritage Sites.
The square is surrounded by buildings from the Safavid era.
The
Shah MosqueThe Imam Khomeini Mosque or Shah Mosque is a mosque in Isfahan , Iran standing in south side of Naghsh-i Jahan Square....
is situated on the south side of this square. On the west side you can find
Ali QapuĀlī Qāpū is a grand palace in Isfahan, Iran. It is located on the western side of the Naghsh-i Jahan Square opposite to Sheikh lotf allah mosque, and had been originally designed as a vast portal. It is forty-eight meters high and there are seven floors, each accessible by a difficult spiral...
Palace.
Sheikh Lotf Allah MosqueSheikh Lotf Allah Mosque is one of the architectural masterpieces of Safavid Iranian architecture, standing on the eastern side of Naghsh-i Jahan Square, Isfahan, Iran....
is situated on the eastern side of this square and the northern side opens into the Isfahan Grand Bazaar.
Today, Namaaz-e Jom'eh (the Muslim Friday prayer) is held in this square in front of the
Shah MosqueThe Imam Khomeini Mosque or Shah Mosque is a mosque in Isfahan , Iran standing in south side of Naghsh-i Jahan Square....
.
The square is depicted on the
reverseThe term, obverse, and its opposite, reverse, describe the two sides of units of currency and many other kinds of two-sided objects - most often in reference to coins, but also to paper currency, flags , medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics...
of the Iranian 20,000
rialsThe rial is the currency of Iran. It is subdivided into 100 dinar but, because of the very low current value of the rial, no fraction of the rial is used in accounting....
banknote.
Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque
Situated on the eastern side of Naghsh-i Jahan Square, Sheikh Lotfallah Mosque was constructed between 1602 to 1619 A.D. in Shah Abbas (I)'s era.
The monument's architect was Mohammadreza Isfahani. He solved the problem of the difference between the direction of kaabeh and gateway of the building by devising a connecting vestibule between the entrance and the enclosure.
The diameter of the inner dome is laid on walls with the thickness of 170cm. One of the unique characteristics of the mosque is the peacock at the center of its dome. If you stand at the entrance gate of the inner hall and look at the center of the dome, a peacock whose tail is the sunrays came in from the hole in the ceiling could be seen.
The mosque was named after Sheikh Lotfallah, a religious leader from what is now Lebanon who was invited to Isfahan and was paid special attention by the Safavid king.
Ali Qapu Palace
Ali Qapu (pronounced, ah-lee gah-pooh) is in effect but a pavilion that marks the entrance to the vast royal residential quarter of the Safavid Isfahan which stretched from the Maidan Naqsh-i-Jahan to the Chahar Bagh Boulevard. The name is made of two elements: "Ali", Arabic for exalted, and "Qapu" Turkic for portal or royal threshold. The compound stands for "Exalted Porte". This name was chosen by the Safavids to rival the Ottomans' celbrated name for their court : Bab-i Ali, or the "Sublime Porte").
The building, another wonderful Safavid edifice, was built by decree of Shah Abbas the Great in the early seventeenth century. It was here that the great monarch used to entertain noble visitors, and foreign ambassadors.
Shah Abbas, here for the first time celebrated the Nowruz (New Year's Day) of 1006 AH / 1597 A.D. A large and massive rectangular structure, the Ali Qapu is high and has six floors, fronted with a wide terrace whose ceiling is inlaid and supported by wooden columns.
Ali Qapu is rich in naturalistic wall paintings by Reza Abbassi, the court painter of Shah Abbas I, and his pupils. There are floral, animal, and bird motifs. The highly ornamented doors and windows of the palace have almost all been pillaged at times of social anarchy. Only one window on the third floor has escaped the ravages of time. Ali Qapu was repaired and restored substantially during the reign of Shah Sultan Hussein, the last Safavid ruler, but fell into a dreadful state of dilapidation again during the short reign of invading Afghans. under the Qajar Nasir al-Din shah's reign (1848-96), the Safavid cornices and floral tiles above the portal were replaced by tiles bearing inscriptions.
Shah Abbas II was enthusiastic about the embellishment and perfection of Ali Qapu. His chief contribution was given to the magnificent hall, constructured on the third floor. The 18 columns of the hall are covered with mirrors and its ceiling is decorated with great paintings.
The chancellery was stationed on the first floor.
On the sixth floor, the royal reception and banquets were held. The largest rooms are found on this floor. The stucco decoration of the banquet hall abounds in motif of various vessels and cups. The sixth floor was popularly called (the music room) as it was here that various ensembles performed music and sang songs. From the upper galleries, the Safavid ruler watched
poloPolo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet...
games, maneuvers and horse-racing below in the Naqsh-i-Jahan square.
The Ali Qapu has multiple connotations, but generally connotes entrance or supreme gate to the complex of palaces and public buildings of the Safavid Government.
Construction Stages
The Ali Qapu building was founded in several stages, beginning from a building with a single gate, with entrance to the government building complex, and gradually developed, ending in the existing shape. The period of the development, with intervals lasted approximately seventy years.
First Stage :
The initial building acting as entrance to the complex was in cubical shape and in two stories, with dimensions measuring and high.
Second Stage :
Foundation of the upper hall, built on the entrance vestibule, with cubical shape, over the initial cubic shape structure with the same height in two visible stories.
Third Stage :
Foundation of the fifth story, the music amphitheater or music hall, built on the lower hall, using the central room for sky light, and thus the vertical extension being emphasized.
Fourth Stage :
Foundation of the eastern verandah or pavilion advancing towards the square, supported by the tower shaped building. By foundation of this verandah, the entrance vestibule was extended along the main gate and passage to the market, perpendicular to the eastern flank of the building.
Fifth Stage :
Foundation of the wooden ceiling of the verandah, supported by 18 wooden columns, and contemporaneous with erection of the ceiling, an additional stairway of the southern flank was founded and was called the Kingly Stairway.
Sixth Stage :
During this stage a water tower was built in the northern flank for provision of water for the copper pool of the columned verandah.
Plaster decorations in reception story and music hall.
The room on the sixth floor is also decorated with plasterwork, representing pots and vessels and one is famous as the music and sound room. It is certainly well worth visiting for the cut out decorations round the room, which represent a considerable artistic feat. These cut out shapes were not placed there to act as cupboards: the stuccowork is most delicate and falls to pieces at the highest touch and was included for decoration. The rooms were used for private parties and for the King's musicians, and these hollow places in the walls retained the echoes and produced the sounds of the singing and musical instruments clearly in all parts.
Ceiling decorations
The decoration of the large room on the third floor which opens out on the large pillared hall, and which was used by Shah Abbas for entertaining his official guests is the most interesting. Fortunately the ceilings, on which birds are depicted in their natural colors, have remained without interference in their original state from Safavid times, and these are the best roofs in the building.
Imam Mosque
Imam Mosque is a
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
in
IsfahanIsfahan or Esfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan or Hispahan, is located about 340 km south of Tehran and is the capital of Isfahan Province and Iran's third largest city...
, Iran standing in south side of Naghsh-i Jahan square. Built during the Safavid period, an excellent example of
Islamic ArchitectureIslamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
in Persia(Iran). This mosque was constructed during the Safavid period, in 1611 with seven-color
mosaicMosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
tiles and valuable inscriptions. The portal of the mosque measuring high, crowned with two
minaretMinarets are distinctive architectural features of Islamic mosques. Minarets are generally tall spires with onion-shaped or conical crowns, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure.-Functions of minarets:The earliest mosques were built without minarets, the adhan...
s being in height, frames the front of the mosque which opens into Naqsh-e Jahan square. On top of the entrance, among the stalactites and above the turquoise lattice window, there is a frame of seven-color mosaic tile shaped like a vase with two
peacocksPeacocks may refer to:*Peafowl*Peacocks *Nickname for English football club, Leeds United...
on both sides which is an example of mosaic tile. The inscription above the entrance being made of white mosaic tile on ultramarine background, is written in Sols script by Alireza Abbasi. The wooden door of the mosque, covered with layers of gold and silver, is ornamented with some poems written in
Nasta'liq script' is one of the main genres and traditionally the predominant style in Persian calligraphy It was developed in Iran in the 14th and 15th centuries...
. The overall entrance hall proves the mastery of the designer of the building. The master architect has designed two passageways being different in length on both sides of the hall to assimilate the axis of the mosque to the direction of kiblah which has an angle of 45 degrees, to cover the change of direction without losing the proportions.
The Mosque is surrounded with four ivans and arcades. All the walls are ornarnented with seven-color mosaic tile. The
ivanIvan is a Slavic masculine given name, corresponding to English John.. The name originates from New Testament Greek , which is in turn derived from Hebrew יֹוחָנָן ....
of the mosque is the one which is toward kiblah measuring high and has two minarets being high. Behind this ivan is a space which is roofed with the most enormous dome of the city being high. The dome consists of two covers. The outer cover is away from the inner one. There are two schools for religious education at the southwest and southeast of the mosque. The southwest school has an inscription from the Safavid period. There is also an indicator stone, inserted in the inscription, the shape of which is right-angled triangle. This stone shows the mid-day of all the days of the year scientifically in a simple way. The mosque has two halls in the east and west part of its interior. The eastern hall is bigger but its walls are covered with plaster without any ornamentation while the walls and ceiling of the western hall are covered with seven-color mosaic tiles. The
mihrabA mihrab is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla, that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
of this hall has an inscription written by the master artist, Mohammad Reza Emami. There are two water stones under the domes of the eastern and western ivans but the most precious is the western Chehelsotoun shows the date of its creation, 1684.
Panoramic view
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