The Hierarchy of Pilgrimaging the Holy Places in the Historical-Religious Cities of Iran. Case Study: Qom City during Safavid and Qajar Eras

Several studies have been carried out on the necessity and quality of hierarchies of successive spaces at the entrance to the historical-religious places of Iran, but there is a dearth of research on the impact of such hierarchies on the perception of the visitors and pilgrims. There is a need for further investigation of hierarchies of entrance to historical-religious cities with holy places where pilgrims enter with high enthusiasm to achieve divine blessing. To this end, the present study attempted to investigate the hierarchy of pilgrimaging (entering) to the holy shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh (SA) during the Safavid and Qajar eras on urban and architectural scales. Moreover, the study sought to understand whether the existence of a hierarchy of entrance spaces can affect Hazrat Masoumeh (SA) pilgrims’ perceptions and behaviors. Descriptive and interpretive research methods along with library research were used to depict a proper image of pilgrimaging to the holy city of Qom during the Safavid and Qajar dynasties. The most important sources that could be used to illustrate the history of Qom and of the holy shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh (SA) were the written sources of Qom history, pictorial sources (maps, gravures, and photos) and especially travelogues by traders and visitors. Since this study aimed to investigate the mental and perceptual impacts of the entrance spaces to Qom in the past, travelogues were among the most important research resources as they contained their writers’ particular expressions of perceptions and emotions at their first visits to the intended places. The results of investigating the sources resulted in a clear image of the hierarchy of the pilgrims’ entrance to Qom. Such a hierarchy initiated at a distance of about 25 km off Qom where the dome of the holy shrine could be seen, and continued up to the dome space. In this paper, the hierarchy of the entrance to Hazrat Masoumeh’s (SA) holy shrine will be introduced for the first time presenting details about successive spaces and their impacts on the pilgrims' and visitors’ perceptions and behaviors.