Form Evolutions in Architecture of Tabriz Blue Mosque Based on Structural Analysis of Historical Eras

Tabriz Blue Mosque is one of the artistic masterpieces of Kara Koyunlu era. But the proposed issue about this building is non-existence of originality in its volume totality; because during times the building structure has been changed and there are tremendous differences between the current structure and that its primary architects had aimed; and what currently exists from this building for the observers is very different with the one that its primary architects had intended. To understand these words maybe paying attention to this issue is enough that in the beginning of the current century (about five centuries after the Mosque construction), its primary volume totality was nearly zero. By beginning the evolutions of Reza Shah era and indication of archaism thoughts and establishing organizations such as Archaism and Antiques Department that was the result of a new attitude to the issue of cultural heritage in Iran, the Blue Mosque also was considered by managers and planners of local and national groups, and as a result, a new period started in its historical destiny. Since then, that is more than the past eighty years the most ruined parts of the mosque have been repaired or physically restored. The scientific explanation of the physical evolution process of this building is the research problem from which this paper is extracted. In the present paper the form evolutions of the mosque based on historical documents and also the objective investigation of the existed evidences (historical strata of the building) have been discussed. The results of the research indicate that the current structure of the mosque is the result of companionship of old strata with the new ones, and what is emerged from the building, despite having a coherent visage, lacks total originality and is the symbol of late wills. Moreover, as the time passes and as the contemporary attachments get older –that generally are restored in the past form- sometimes the original and the false forms are mixed and the visitors think that the whole mosque existed before. However, in recent years, the attempts in differentiating among original and attached parts that is one of the scientific principles of architectural protection are observed in some protective actions of this building. In explaining the contemporary protective actions for this building, it should be noted that the interferences have been resulted from changing approaches and managements and the definition of “desired condition” of the building has not been stable during the last eighty years; in a way that, during the solar twenties the desired condition was to repair “the same as old form” and “without even the least difference and heterogeny from the original elements”, and during the solar seventieth the desired condition was in observing the criteria such as “the possibility of diagnosing the original from the false from” and “reversibility”. Such attitudes are not peculiar to this building, but are aspects of the evolutions of the science of architectural protection in contemporary Iran that have affected the repair procedure of many historical buildings in Iran.