فصلنامه اثر
پیاپی 54 (پاییز 1390)

The present paper reconstructs the original plan of Doshan Tepe Garden of Tehran based on available historical sources, and reviews the developments of the Naserid Period. Doshan Tepe garden is of important gardens from Qajar period in Tehran, and its construction date goes back to the Naserid Period. Large parts of the garden were effaced during the First Pahlavid Era. What survives at the moment is simply the name of Doshan Tepe, and the garden itself appears to have been totally disappeared. The main thrust of the present study is to reconstruct the plan of Doshan Tepe Garden drawing on the written documents. This garden was part of the complex of edifi ces that were put up by Nasser al-Din Shah at Doshan Tepe. It was not the fi rst building in the complex but was added to the complex after the construction of the fl ume. The garden itself also experienced several developments and parts of it were modifi ed and reconstructed. Nasser al-Din Shah fancied this garden and appointed Itimad ol-Saltana to take care of it. The existing evidence on the garden includes historical maps and texts as well as historical photographs from Qajar and later periods. Among the all available maps from the Qajar era (August Kerziz, Iliya Nikolayevitch Berezin, Mir Abdul Ghaffar Khan, and Abd al-Razzagh Baghayeri), the garden appears solely in the Baghayeri’s map. In addition, the “City Map of Tehran and its Environs” belonging to 1944 provides invaluable information on the remaining parts of this garden during the Pahlavid Period. The data from the maps was supplemented by the historical photographs and texts, and used to reconstruct the garden’s plan. This vast garden, oriented north-south, had a main longitudinal axis (street) and a number of secondary transverse and longitudinal axes. The two main frontispiece of the garden lie at two ends of the main street, and the northern frontispiece changed after the fl ood destroyed parts of the garden. Apart from serving as a place for recreation, the garden was used in governmental affairs and procession of the army during Nasser al-Din Shah reign. As said above, the garden was destroyed during the Pahlavid period.

The relationship of the historical gardens with farming and gardening can be analyzed from different aspects. Since garden construction is virtually impossible without agricultural and gardening operations, it should be noted that here cultivation of various types of fruit-bearing trees, fl owers and herbal plants is meant by practicing farming and gardening at the historic gardens. It appears that attention to issues such as aesthetic aspect of planting fruit-bearing trees, fl owers and herbs, to profi tability of these plants, and considering their nature and properties are among the issues that have almost been neglected in the previous studies on historic gardens. However, the tradition of farming and gardening in historic gardens has been mentioned in many of the available ancient texts, including Mafatih al-Arzaq by Mohammad Yousef Nouri (13th century AH), Ershad al-Zira’a by Abu Nasr Heravi (fi rst half of the 10th century AH), Ma’rifat-e Falahat by Abd-olAli Birjandi (10th century AH), and Bayaz Khoshbouei an unpublished treatise written during the reign of the Mughal emperors. These sources complemented with paintings are used as evidence for reaching conclusion on the role of farming and gardening in historic gardens and on the relationship existing between this operation and environment quality enhancement both in terms of ecology and aesthetics. Since Mafatih –al-Arzaq is a more recent and more complete version relative to the rest of these sources, in the present work we will mainly focus on this book while considering the other earlier sources.

Garden construction is a tradition dating from very old times in South Khorasan Province. According to the local historical sources, the earliest garden in the province dates from early Islamic era, and the idea appears to have been borrowed from the ancient Iranian traditions. This garden is simply mentioned in a single local historical source, but no physical traces of the actual structure remain at the moment, with its exact location also being uncertain. The earliest known historic garden of the province, which is published for the fi rst time in the present paper, is Tughan Garden from the late seventh century AH. It belonged to a local ruler during the Ilkhanid period. On the whole, it seems that throughout the areas now covered by South Khorasan Province garden construction was a common practice in particular among the local ruling dynasty and other affi liated offi cials. Thus, the historic gardens in the region belong for the most part to the Qajar period, and are scattered across Birjand and other areas of the province. Birjand, as the governmental center, and its environs account for the largest number of these gardens. In this study 36 historic gardens are described or briefl y mentioned.

The general and common meaning of the term “garden”, from its primitive form as a line of trees along watercourses to its diverse developed forms, such as gardens within valleys and around cities which are known as agricultural gardens, and fi nally formal gardens within and outside the cities is closely linked with the Iranian culture. This aspect of the presence of Iranian culture over vast regions from central Asia to the plains on the western side of Zagros encircling the internal Iranian plateau was so brilliant that placed it among the outstanding Japanese and European gardens so that it is called “Iranian Garden.” Rather simple forms of (agricultural) garden either in the form of transient or permanent settlements amid plateaus and valleys or in the form of settlement in plains, in more developed forms of which are formed around urban centers, refl ect interactions of human and his environment which occurred as a response to the needs and enhancing life standards in the competition with surrounding societies, and has its roots in economy, knowledge and technology. It seems improbable that the abovementioned context had enough potential to give rise to construction of Iranian garden. The present paper seeks to explore the potentials required for creation of Iranian garden while enumerating the characteristics that distinguish the natural geographical zone of the Iranian culture from its surrounding geographical zones and at the same time to explore the role of different types and confi gurations of the internal subcultures of this zone, and report it in the most succinct way. In this analysis, the geographical characteristics of the Iranian territory are explored and the advantages of this geography are enumerated. Then, apart from giving the current views on social confi gurations of Iran, it tries to cite the advantages of social confi guration that enabled establishment of the Iranian garden.

The Biramabad garden dates from Safavid period and is only partially preserved today. It is located in a high valued fabric in Kerman, which is of high historical importance. Its conformity and concordance with the surrounding environment, its obvious location, and its association with Safavids have made this garden a unique cultural property. The present study sets to analyze Biramabad garden, related historical sources, reasons behind its construction, its concordance with surrounding environment, topographical situation and the infl uences of natural condition of the terrain and its morphological properties on it, architecture of the garden, its structures and their modifi cations and annexations over time, irrigation system, cultivation system and fi nally emergence of a particular type of Safavid garden which is unique in itself.

The subject dealt with in this study is the effects of water on human relaxation. Human is an intricate complex of soul, mind and body. Just as the body needs nutrition, the mind and soul likewise require elements to provide them with relaxation. In urban life where high buildings and crowded streets and machines prevail, the artistic and aesthetic effects are the best resort for the exhausted and tranquility seeking mind of human. The justifi cation for this study comes from the importance of giving attention to water as the most essential and life endowing element during human life. One of these elements is water, which relieves human soul both in its fl owing and static forms. This is an obvious fact that in most cultures and civilizations water served as the major element in their genesis. The need of human soul for the nature, in order to enjoy its beauty and its relieving aspect is a subject matter that has been emphasized following the outburst of diffi culties resulting from modern life and reduced contacts of human with the natural environment. The present work will review the virtual and symbolic meanings of water among the Iranians. The necessity for this analysis comes from the role played by these meanings in giving sense to the life and consequently in proper use of water, and meanings that have been forgotten nowadays. In other words, this study, without any claim as to thorough explanation of the subject, attempts to study the role of water in refi ning the environment and mental relaxation. The data were collected through available documents and fi eld study. The results show that using water in architectural structures has infl uence on our fi ve senses, and generally results in human relaxation.

Dowlatabad Garden is undoubtedly one of the important monuments of Yazd and assumes high importance among the repertoire of Iranian Gardens. Mohammad Taghi Khan of Bafgh, the founder of Khavanin Dynasty of Yazd constructed the garden after Dowlatabad fl ume was constructed outside the city, outside the Chahar Menar Gate. The garden, with its elongated plan, extends along the watercourse with a geometrical plan. On the whole, it comprises two internal and external areas along with different elements and components. The internal space is the main part of the garden, and consists of an octagonal palace in the east, and a sturicture called Behesht Ayin in the west. The middle terrace lies between the main axis and the terraces, and orchards with fruit trees fl anking it on both sides. One of the entrances of the garden is connected to the internal area through a stable, an archway and a residential structure. The two-story, octagonal structure of the palace with a high windcatcher on it is the predominating building in the garden. Water and light play along with coffer under the ceiling have created a complete architecture. The Behesht Ayin building was designed in two stories for residential purposes. The internal garden is surrounded by a high tauf wall with a watch tower. The smaller external garden is enclosed by the frontispiece of the frontage, Tehrani Mansion, and rear side of Behesht Ayin, and is surrounded by orchards, ponds and paved ford. The entrance building is a complex structure. A cistern with two inlets facing towards the inner and outer garden was fi lled with Dowlatabad fl ume. The two watch towers once located at the end of the garden are now totally disappeared. After its construction, the garden went through several developments and was about to be completely destroyed. It was reconstructed however during Qajar period. It was fi nally reconstructed fi rst by the Organization of Conservation of National Heritage and later by the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.

Taking advantages of geometry is one of the main attributes of the Iranian-Islamic architecture and refl ects the mathematical profi ciency of the Iranian scholars. Iranian garden among the remains of perspective architecture of the world is endowed with diverse forms of geometric effects, which serve as the main characteristics of these gardens. The realization of geometry in architecture can be said to have its roots in the mysterious concepts and meanings that in turn are rooted in popular beliefs. Further, functionalism is another feature displayed by Iranian gardens, which has always been focused by the architects. Though the geometry and function in Iranian gardens have already been discussed, the key remaining question in this regard concerns the possible relationship between function and geometry. The present work explores the above hypothesis and identifi es the relationship between geometry and function, with nine selected gardens of Shiraz as its cases. The analysis suggests that geometrical design of Iranian gardens and the case of Shiraz Gardens has been in correlation with function of the gardens throughout the history. The results show that strengthening the particular function and defi ning the required function were among the reasons that accounted for employment of geometrical elements such as hierarchy, centrality, symmetry, etc in Shiraz gardens. Designing surrounding wall, streets, hierarchy and platforms, decorative elements, palace and Iwan all can be explained on the basis of this standpoint so that the designing process of the gardens is not confi ned to geometrical forms. Rather, the geometry was a function of function and interacted with it.

The project of Reconstruction of Palace of Shekargah Garden, Abasabad, Natanz MA in Conservation and Restoration of Historical Buildings and Fabrics, ICHHTOAbstract Just like other architectural elements, Iranian garden has its own innovations and nuisances. In other words, whatever the architect thought as necessary were designed in the best possible way. In satisfying the need for relaxation and tranquility in hot and dry climatic zone, the Iranian garden has the highest effi ciency. In these gardens order and symmetry, and profi tability and contentment were balanced out, and the presence of high rising trees, diverse fl oral life, colorful fl owers, enlivening water circulation and songs of birds endowed these gardens with the highest beauty and the utmost functionality. While Iranian gardens in cities and at villages were constructed as occasional, governmental and residential gardens, the Shekargah Garden and historic palace of Abasabad, and Tajabad edifi ce in Natanz are of high recreational value given the favorable climate, and rich animal resources both in the mountain and the plain. The forlorn nature of the garden recalls the necessity of its further publishing and designing a conservative program. Therefore, the author tries to introduce this monument and design a reconstruction plan for it in order to pave the way for prosperity of this garden.