Digital Reconstruction of Dār al-Funūn School in the Qajar Period, Based on Visual Evidence

Dār al-Funūn School was established in the early 1850s, under Nāser al-Dīn Shāh’s rule and by the patronage of his chancellor Mīrzā Taqī Khān Amīr Kabīr. The building of this school has faced a lot of changes during its life. Its first building (the Older School), which was ordered by Amīr Kabīr in 1266 AH/ 1850 AD, was designed by Mīrzā Riżā Khān Muhandis-Bāshī and constructed by Muḥammad Taqī Khān Miʿmār-Bāshī. The building remained the same until 1290-1296 AH/ 1873-1879 AD that it underwent some changes by the design of Mīrzā ʿAbbās Muhandis Bāshī and construction of Muhammad Ibrāhīm Khān Miʻmār-Bāshī. These changes altered the face of the building as much as it seemed to be another building (the Old School). Later, at about 1295-1305 AH/ 1878-1878 AD another building was built on the north side of the old one called the New School. Dār al-Funūn didn’t face any other major changes till the end of the Qajar period, but at the beginning of the Pahlavi period, the buildings were destroyed and replaced by another building with the design of Nikolai Markov. Therefore, through the life of Dār al-Funūn, there are three phases of the school we are faced with, which are not recognized and reconstructed yet. Even some of the photos of the school are not pinpointed correctly in some researches. The only published research that, by a thorough study of the evidence, introduces the different phases of Dār al-Funūn is the article “The Architecture of Dār al-Funūn School and Its Changes in Qajar Era”; but there is no reconstruction of the building yet. Dār al-Funūn School was established in the early 1850s, under Nāser al-Dīn Shāh’s rule and by the patronage of his chancellor Mīrzā Taqī Khān Amīr Kabīr. The building of this school has faced a lot of changes during its life. Its first building (the Older School), which was ordered by Amīr Kabīr in 1266 AH/ 1850 AD, was designed by Mīrzā Riżā Khān Muhandis-Bāshī and constructed by Muḥammad Taqī Khān Miʿmār-Bāshī. The building remained the same until 1290-1296 AH/ 1873-1879 AD that it underwent some changes by the design of Mīrzā ʿAbbās Muhandis Bāshī and construction of Muhammad Ibrāhīm Khān Miʻmār-Bāshī. These changes altered the face of the building as much as it seemed to be another building (the Old School). Later, at about 1295-1305 AH/ 1878-1878 AD another building was built on the north side of the old one called the New School. Dār al-Funūn didn’t face any other major changes till the end of the Qajar period, but at the beginning of the Pahlavi period, the buildings were destroyed and replaced by another building with the design of Nikolai Markov. Therefore, through the life of Dār al-Funūn, there are three phases of the school we are faced with, which are not recognized and reconstructed yet. Even some of the photos of the school are not pinpointed correctly in some researches. The only published research that, by a thorough study of the evidence, introduces the different phases of Dār al-Funūn is the article “The Architecture of Dār al-Funūn School and Its Changes in Qajar Era”; but there is no reconstruction of the building yet. In this research, the visual evidence, as photos and maps, are used to reconstruct the three mentioned phases of the school. Throughout this research, the photos and the maps of Tehran (Krziž and Abdul-Ghaffār’s map) are transformed into architectural plans and elevations by means of geometry methods and software. The rather accurate plans, elevations and the 3D model of the building were gained through comparing photos and the plans several times. The results were achieved by considering unity in style and checking the results with the written evidence. There are merely any pictures from inside of the building, so the reconstruction is limited to the exteriors of the building.