The Historical Monuments of Iranian Architectures as a PIR (Mentor) Idea

The historical monuments of Iranian architecture are significantly alive and narrate the historical destiny of the Iranian nation. The utilization of metaphor to understand the spirit of place and referencing to the mystical literature of Iran determines the general framework in this article because spirituality is a vital aspect of the historic works of Iranian architecture. One of the most important reasons for writing this article is to study the unknown capacity of Iranian historical architectures to develop a correct interaction between humans and historical sites. The main purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive definition of PIR as a concept beyond common knowledge and can be generalized to everything that has life and its adaptation to the historical monuments of Iranian architecture. John Ruskin says I want to highlight how the ineffable, unpresentable, sensual, heterogeneous possibilities of contemporary cities are particularly evident in their industrial ruins. Ruins may become spaces for leisure, adventure, cultivation, acquisition, shelter, and creativity. The greatest glory of a building is in its age, when we build; let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight, nor present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them. Indeed, the greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor its gold. Its glory is in its age, and the deep sense of voicefulness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval condemnation, which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves of humanity. Buildings achieve such voicefulness from the succeeding generations that use them. One thing we cannot do with the past is replicate it. Then, this definition is compared with old architectures of Iran, and, using a phenomenological method, the applications of “PIR” in Persian literature have been investigated. In the following article, the adaptability of this understanding from PIR was investigated with architectural heritage and with a comparative method; the possible similarities between these two themes were proved. Aging is defined by passing time quantitatively. However, the “PIR” formation concept is based on the passing time with specific conditions. Imparting the human to serenity and spiritual felicity is the most significant duty of the “PIR” or Perfect Human that is achieved by referring to archetype. The “old wise man” introduced by Jung is perfectly similar to the “PIR” Iranian concept. In his philosophy, the archetype is originated from the collective unconscious of the person, a pronoun that is containing several thousands of human experiences and archetype pictures. Since PIR is a formed picture of active wise and described as a holly person in the heavenly realm in Sohrevardi epistles, this similarity emerged. As a conclusion of this paper, the spirit of place in Iranian historical architectures contains a kind of life that is a gift from the ancient wisdom of humans. As a result, Iranian historic architecture can play its role as a PIR in society, and their nature changes from a museum to a relaxing and educating place.