Semantic analysis of the motifs of Qajar buildings in the old context of Birjand city (Based on visual semantics approach)

The historical context of the city of Birjand in South Khorasan has significant architectural works from the Qajar and Pahlavi periods, which have been carried out until the end of a complete investigation on the motifs left from the Qajar period based on the concept of visual semantics. Based on this, in this research, which is done in a descriptive-analytical way with a historical nature, at first, all the Qajar buildings were identified and photographed by referring to the cultural heritage archives and field visits. Then, all the studied buildings were classified into four categories: gardens, private houses, houses, and schools, and one landmark building was selected from each category. The reasons for the selection were based on the building's index and soundness, the presence of numerous motifs and the non-change of motifs in different periods. Then, based on the approach of visual semantics of each role individually, semiology and etymology were done. Then again, all motifs of a building were analyzed and read meaningfully in their context (gardens, private homes, school houses) and the discourse space of the Qajar period (religious, social and political view) because in this approach only structural classification and semiology of fashion It is not an opinion, but a semantic analysis of motifs based on the viewpoint of the speaker and the discourse of the society. Based on this, it was found that the motifs of the Qajar period in the historical context of Birjand were carved based on the components of the motifs of ancient Iran, and the western motifs are less visible in it. Also, based on the semantics of the motifs and inscriptions obtained, it was found that the religious and social view of this region was based on the view of the Shia religion.