Genesis of the Idea of National Architectural legacy of IranIn the Modernist Reading of History by Iranian Thinkers At the Constitution Age

Modernity and enlightenment is one of the major intellectual sprouts of the Constitution Age in Iran, which lead to the re-readings of most of the concepts of the past, and their re-definition based on the new attitudes and approaches of that time. Among these topics was the concept of “history”. The intellectuals, influenced by the fundamental components of the new world such as rationalism and humanity and relying on the concepts such as “progress”, liked to offer  a new reading of the concept of history with regard to these components. This reading was conducted in an atmosphere where the new world had figured out new relationships in culture, society, politics… with peculiarities such as experimental sciences, power of criticism and rationalism and elimination of holy and lofty issues by setting up logic, something that threw a skeptical eye to most of the precedents. Therefore, it founded a new concept of the history by criticizing the previous theme of the history, which can be referred to as “a modernistic reading of history”. By studying the texts of those ages and other related sources authored after the Constitution era and by using an interpretative-historical and content analysis method, the present article seeks to answer to the questions as to:”What role did the new reading of the history by the modernists play in the genesis of the idea of national architectural legacy of Iran?”, and “What status and influence did the works of previous architects have on this issue?” In order to answer these questions the outlook of the modernists toward the architecture remained from the past need to be examined and explored as an important pillar of the history, which makes identity. Extension of the discussion of this article encompasses the individuals who are somehow known as the modernists of the Constitution Age. The objective of this research is to study the effect of modernistic reading of the history on the “Genesis of the idea of national architectural legacy of Iran” which is one of the outcomes of this new reading of the history. Therefore, it deals with the nature of this effect, its origins and its results in addition to studying the roots and continues toward the emergence of the idea of national architectural legacy of Iran. In order to achieve this objective, modernity is defined and the course of modernity in Iran is explored in an effort to follow the path of metamorphism of the concepts at the Constitution Age. Upon contemplation of the transformation occurred in the theme of the concept of history in the opinions of the modernists, the research studies the tendencies, which took, place in the opinions of modernists concerning the architectural works of the past and served as an evaluation of the genesis of the idea of national architectural legacy of Iran. The research also tries to show that this new attitude of the Constitution Age actually intended to confirm, record and register the historical architecture of Iran as a national Iranian legacy, notify everyone on its importance and emphasize on its conservation.